Kyrie Irving was a couldn’t miss during the rising stars game Friday night at Amway Center, no I mean he literally was a couldn’t miss while leading team Chuck to a 146-133 win over team Shaq.
Irving hit a staggering 12 of 13 shots from the field including 8 for 8 from beyond the arc finishing with 34 points and 9 assists earning him MVP honors.
“You know, it’s kind of unfortunate that it comes in an All-Star Game,” Irving said of what he believes was the best shooting display he’s ever had in a game at any level. “These stats don’t carry over to the season. But at the end of the day, it was still fun to get out there with those talented guys.”
Last Junes number one overall pick for the Cleveland Cavaliers showed us that the Cavs have a new star and he’s head and shoulders above his peers.
Cleveland’s Tristan Thompson dropped 20 points to lead Team Shaq but phenom Jeremy Lin only had two points with very low playing time.
Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin also didn’t play very much but when he did Griffin’s dunks left the crowd in awe and had fans wishing he was defending his dunk contest title Saturday night.
Maurice Cheeks NBA Hall of Fame finalist gave his opinion on point guards of his time compared to point guards of today.
“They’re better athletes,” said Cheeks, who coached a team that included Irving and Wall. “From the smallest guy to the tallest guy, they dunk the basketball, rebound the basketball very well.”
Demarcus Cousins scored 11 of team Chucks first 19 points setting the tone early. Team Shaq would never lead at any part of the game.
Team Chuck took a 77-65 lead into the intermission with an all offensive first half, this was by no means a defensive struggle but I mean All-Star games usually aren’t.
Team Shaq outscored team Chuck 51-50 in the second half but it wasn’t enough to overcome the hole they dug themselves.
Down the stretch it became a dunk contest highlighted by a spectacular behind the back finish from guard John Wall.
“There were a lot of dunks,” Team Shaq co-head coach Ron Adams said. “I think the guys had fun. I hope we didn’t set a Guinness Book of World Records record for dunks given.”
