NBA superstar LeBron James delivered one of the wildest playoff experiences for his fans in 2016. The superstar not only made an impossible 3-1 comeback but also helped the Cleveland Cavaliers win their first-ever title. Nevertheless, it is unfair to entirely credit King James for the feat. Notably, Kyrie Irving also played a huge role with his shooting mastery. However, the story hasn’t been the same for the 8x NBA All-Star since he left the Cavs. Importantly, fans dig deep into Irving’s notable playoff woes in the last six years.
After leaving the Cavaliers, Irving represented the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and the Dallas Mavericks. Surprisingly, the star barely reached Conference Finals after his Cavs era. Contrarily, Uncle Drew worked on his ball handling and shooting skills and performed better, especially in clutch moments. Eventually, it fetched him the nickname, Mr. 4th Quarter and Mr. Overtime. Anyway, the 31-year-old star’s clutch didn’t translate to the postseason. Let’s find out in detail.
A Reddit post discloses Kyrie’s playoff woes after leaving LeBron James & Co
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Kyrie Irving played a major fiddle in the LeBron James’ quest to win Cavaliers, a NBA trophy. He averaged 25.2 points in the 2016 championship run and 25.9 points in the following season. However, the story hasn’t been the same since he left the Cavs. Irving played only 22 postseason games after leaving the franchise. Whereas, on the other hand, he played a total of 32 postseason games with Cavs alone.
Additionally, a Reddit post digged in further with another interesting stat, questioning Irving’s ability after leaving LeBron James. The post read, “Kyrie has more playoff games with under 20 points than over 30 points since leaving Cleveland.” Notably, Irving left the Cavs reasoning to attain immediate success during his prime, reported sportingnews.com. Unfortunately, things didn’t go in the way that he had wished it go.
The post further compared Irving’s stats with Devin Booker and Stephen Curry. It proved that Uncle Drew definitely had a poor playoff record compared to the superstars of the game.
While the post only shared a few stats about the Mavs stars, fans in the comments turned it into a debate.
Fans trashed Kyrie in the comments
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In response to the Reddit post, fans swarmed in the comments to trash the Mavericks star. Fans argued that Irving doesn’t deserve the praise that he receives from the NBA world. One user said, “Guy has been overrated his entire career due to playing next to Lebron.”
Irving played with Lebron, Harden, KD, and now Luka, another user commented. “By the end of his career he will have had the best help of any player in NBA history.”
Meanwhile some section of fans defended the star. “He peaked statistically in the postseason but that’s because it was the perfect role for him and the East was weaker back then. He’s definitely a better player now,” a user said. “He’s an unselfish non-foul baiting player who’s played with many other high volume players. Sadly also missed a couple playoffs.”
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Watch This Story: Top 5 performances from 30-year-old Kyrie Irving during glittering NBA career
Irving has a lot left in his career, and the question is, will he change the stats in the upcoming season? What do you make of his disappointing playoff stats after the Cavs era? Let us know in the comments.