The seeds for the biggest shot of Kyrie Irving’s career were planted during those extra shooting sessions in December and January. While Irving was rehabbing from knee surgery, he spent hours and hours in extra shooting sessions following the formal portion of practices.
LeBron James joined him for most, vowing at one point never to leave him if Irving was the last player on the court still working.
“At the end of the day, late in games, the ball is going to be in our hands,” James told the Beacon Journal in January. “We’ve got to be able to trust each other and our teammates have to be able to trust us. If they see us working like they always do, it gives them more trust in us. And then we have to come through for them.”
Nearly five months to the day James made those comments, it was precisely the situation the Cavs faced at the most crucial time.
Game 7 of the NBA Finals was tied, and the ball was in the hands of James and Irving.
Irving’s 3-pointer from the wing — off the wrong foot and over an outstretched Steph Curry with 53 seconds left — was the biggest basket in Cavs history. And it was made by a 24-year-old who missed the first two months of the season recovering from a fractured knee.
“That 3-point shot was probably one of the biggest shots in NBA history,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “I’m just happy for him. For all that he went through last year, the whole grind this year, the media worrying about his assists when I’m telling him to be aggressive and score the basketball and you guys are worrying about assists. I just love that he stuck with it. We need him to be aggressive.”
Irving outplayed Curry, the Warriors’ two-time Most Valuable Player, throughout the NBA Finals. He scored more points, edged Curry by one assist and shot the same percentage from the 3-point line — Curry simply took twice as many 3s.
But Irving made the biggest one that counted.
“After the game, I didn’t even really know how to feel,” Irving said. “I didn’t really understand the emotions that really came with winning an NBA championship. Right after the game, I’m still in this competitive mode. Like, is there another game that we have to play against this great team?”
James made it clear throughout the season he was grooming Irving to one day lead his own team. James has hinted that Irving has the potential to be an MVP one day and this season was about giving him the blueprint to get there.
There were times the two aggravated each other. Irving’s stubbornness ground on James at times this season, but ultimately he was right. The extra shots, the long hours in the gym spent shooting together bred a deep confidence between them. And in the moment they needed Irving most, he delivered.
At least some of the credit for that goes to retired Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. Irving and Bryant formed a deep respect for each other during Team USA practices four years ago, when Irving challenged Bryant to a one-on-one contest.
While the game never transpired, Irving’s confidence stuck with the ever-arrogant Bryant. And when the Lakers faced the Cavs this season, Bryant encouraged Irving to be the lightning rod that kept the locker room from being too peaceful and civil.
Irving, apparently, was listening. Although he was exhausted following a grueling seven-game series, Irving reflected back on Bryant, nicknamed “The Black Mamba,” to pull out the Game 7 win and the championship.
“All I was thinking in the back of my mind was Mamba mentality, just Mamba mentality,” Irving said. “That’s all I was thinking.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.