Report: Cavs players frustrated by Kyrie Irving's lack of assists
At least Cleveland won on Wednesday, I guess.
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2 min read
Even when the Cleveland Cavaliers win, they can't win. Cleveland beat the Dallas Mavericks 99-98 on Wednesday, and Kyrie Irving sealed the victory with a crucial steal. With LeBron James resting, Irving led the Cavs in scoring with 33 points on 13-for-28 shooting, but much of the focus afterward was on his assist total. In 39 minutes, Irving managed just one.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Chris Haynes, his teammates were not pleased:
After the game, a few players were puzzled to how their point guard managed to register one assist while playing 39 minutes. They were frustrated, but the win and Irving's huge defensive play lessened the anger.
The notion within the locker room is that the situation is tolerable, because it isn't permanent. If the Cavaliers were dealt the misfortune of playing without James for an extended period, this locker room would be boiling over.
Players are growing tired of Irving's inability to not only register a proper amount of assists at the lead guard position, but also to just move the ball.
Did Irving pass more than once? Of course, but only when he was forced to do so. At one point in the third quarter, he dribbled relentlessly for 24 seconds and went nowhere. Dallas' Chandler Parsons stayed in front of him and let him do all that fancy dribbling in one spot. Irving ended up settling for a tough mid-range jumper that clanked off the rim.
His teammates were in disbelief.
According to NBA.com, Irving passed the ball 62 times, by far more than anybody else in the game. He also had 104 touches, by far more than anybody else in the game. Perhaps the most troubling stat is that he had only eight potential assists, meaning that he would have gotten an assist if his teammate had made the shot. Backup guards Matthew Dellavedova and J.J. Barea, both managed 12 potential assists, and they played 23 minutes each.
In Irving's defense, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue told him to be aggressive. Also, his teammates shot miserably from the perimeter. Sometimes a star player has to take things into his own hands.
In general, though, Irving has to look to create open shots for his teammates. J.R. Smith, Channing Frye, Iman Shumpert and Richard Jefferson are on the roster to make open shots, and Tristan Thompson is good at moving into open space on the inside. Irving has the ability to get his own shot whenever he wants it, but Cleveland is at its best when it is getting its offense from a few different sources.
I wonder if James will say much about this. His relationship with Irving has been under scrutiny lately, and he famously called Irving out when the point guard had a 34-point, zero-assist game early last season. You can be sure he'll be asked to weigh in.
