Cavs guard Kyrie Irving was a man possessed on Monday night, raining molten lava on the Warriors to the tune of 41 points on 70.8 percent shooting in an elimination Game 5 victory to help force the NBA Finals back to Cleveland. But none of that was particularly surprising to veteran teammate Richard Jefferson.
When asked by a reporter after the game if he ever imagined that Irving could put on a performance like that, Jefferson dropped the following gem, per David Zavac of Fear the Sword.
Question for Richard Jefferson tonight: "Did you ever imagine Kyrie could have a game like this?"
A: "Have you ever seen Kyrie play? Yes."
— David Zavac (@DavidZavac) June 14, 2016
Jefferson’s deadpan is completely justified as the 24-year-old Irving is indeed one of the most gifted offensive players in the Association today. Monday night marked the eighth 40-plus point effort of Irving’s five-year NBA career (per Basketball Reference), including a 55-point outburst against Portland in January 2013 and a career-high 57-point explosion against San Antonio two months later.
But this was Irving’s first such performance in a postseason contest, and there’s something to be said about putting up those kinds of video game numbers on the game’s biggest stage, especially in an elimination affair.
Perhaps Jefferson is simply trying to keep Irving grounded and get him to realize that the team still has a long way to go before they can even be considered back in the series. But if Jefferson wants to leave to us all the shock and awe from the spectacular eruption of Mt. Uncle Drew, there’s definitely more than enough of it to go around.
Image Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
H/T NBA Reddit
