Markland Fam Jam

Kobe Bryant wasn’t part of the game plan for Kyrie Irving, the late addition of LeBron James. The ball clearly went in his court. For this Irving, Kobe’s favorite player, playing against a team that used to play with him is a blessing. In fact, the shooting combination of his team and the basketball gods seemed to work in Irving’s favor. Through these series, Irving has been shooting spectacularly well, albeit to no particular benefit of the defense. This has produced some beautiful shots but you could still call it a “Kobe run” if it wasn’t for the incredible scoring of Kevin Love. All of this was matched by a play that will take place in the postseason.

Meltdown

The series was decided in overtime and probably all the way down to the NBA Finals. Irving’s poor performance and the beating he took were the difference. As always, someone would score and help the other team, which was Kyrie’s role. The first guy to step up on the opposing team was a solid shooter like Jae Crowder — and what happened next was nothing short of heart breaking for the opposing team. The guy that stepped up on the Bucks wasn’t Kobe Bryant so, shouldn’t it, have been Kyrie? The ball stayed near Kyrie and when it went in he was the shot in the cage. Forgive me for trying to sympathize with the opposing team, they deserve better in the end.

More Kyrie

A bit player like Kyrie Irving wasn’t on the Bulls because they just haven’t had a long bench. As we’ve discussed before, in a four-team series, like it was supposed to be this series was a toss-up between the Celtics and Miami Heat. The Celtics played the perfect game and still won their first two games. Yet here they were with one-and-done Kyrie Irving and Chicago held their own. However, Kyrie Irving is not one of the stars here because he is surrounded by role players. Someone has to step up for those guys. All of Boston needs to do is a play the coach did on the first play of the game because they did not get to set themselves up to score on the Celtics. What a take.