Duke Blue Devils: Kyrie Wins NBA Championship
Kyrie Irving raised the profile of the Duke Blue Devils through his victory in the NBA Finals.
The summer of former Duke Blue Devils Kyrie Irving is off to a great start since he just won his first NBA Championship last night in Cleveland. Throughout the series Kyrie proved to be the secondary scorer that LeBron James needed to get over the hump.
That was especially important last night when the score was suppressed compared to a normal Golden State-Cleveland matchup. The Warriors got less input from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for a third game in the series but Draymond Green tried to pull them out. James had a triple double but only scored twenty-seven rather than the forty.
Enter Irving. While Kyrie had a rather quiet Game 6, he came back with twenty-six crucial points in Game 7. Consider that Curry and Thompson only had thirty-one points combined in the game. Irving also showed great touch with certain shots.
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It was a good capstone to a series that saw Irving get better as he got more comfortable with the Finals environment. I am glad that things worked out for Irving after I criticized him after Game 2.
This is not the end for Irving. The Olympics remain and there is becoming little doubt that the team will start Irving at point guard now that so many players have pulled out. Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, and John Wall all are out. The road is pretty clear for Irving to do that.
If that is the case then the summer of Irving might have not just a NBA Championship in the works, but also a gold medal if enough USA players actually go to the Olympics.
Next: Derryck Thornton lands in USC
Irving’s victory was also a victory for bench rider Dahntay Jones. Amazingly they represent the third and fourth Coach K era players to win an NBA Championship. You would think there would be a few more by now, but no.