Live Thread: Cavs at Wizards

The Wizards are 8-8 since they presented the Cavs with their only home loss of the season (December 1st).  That’s not great, but 12 of those games have been without Bradley Beal.  The Wizards certainly aren’t as scary as they probably seem to the Cavs fans that witnessed that debacle on 1 Dec, but they’re probably not as bad as their disappointing start would indicate.

There’s a slight tension between these two organizations, centered around their all-star point guards, both selected #1 overall.  Both players have, at times, shown a sensitivity (immaturity?) to criticism of their shortcomings.  Wall dealt with it immediately, as the whispers around his shaky jumper became a raging horn blast around the Jerichoean walls of the Verizon Center.  He’s quelled those blasts with an improved (but certainly not elite) jumper.  Wall is one of those guys that after he swishes a few Js in a row everyone throws up their hands in exasperation or glee and says something to the effect of: “well, if he’s going to be hitting those, just forget about it.”  We’re all familiar with that sentiment from watching LeBron for so long.  It’s fleeting.  As shooters, they are who they are.  But Wall is no Rondo, his J has to be respected.

Kyrie, coming into the league with many more questions than answers (never let Bill Simmons forget that advocated strongly for Derrick Williams #1 overall) became a golden boy almost immediately.  His hippity-hoppity style, the literal foil to his alter-ego’s professed interest in fundamentals, was (and is) perfectly suited for the modern NBA.  As the game winners piled up and the broken ankles scattered about, Kyrie Irving was voted an all-star, and assumed a top-1o player in the league reputation (and “obvious” max-contract status) long before he had really earned it.  With his best performances coming in all-star festivities and grainy youtube footage of team USA practices, the allure began to tarnish as Cavs fans saw through the “fly-paper” defense and all the other less-than-optimal tendencies that hindered Irving in the pursuit of Ws (oh those baseline traps…).

As they were climbing (struggling?) up the Point Guard pecking order (one with more temporary kings than the Mamayev Kurgan) they became rivals whether or not they intended it.  Both players registered a dazzling resume of highlight finishes: Kyrie with the eye-popping handles and insanely creative below-the-rim finishes, and Wall, he of overflowing athleticism who could be described as having dribble penetration that starts under the opponent’s basket.  On a scale of one to Soulja Boy, the rivalry of Irving and Wall is probably a 3, as bits and pieces of passive-aggressive trash talk flare up now and then (sometimes emanating from their running matesmates).  The most recent spark occurred when John Wall called it a joke that Kyrie Irving had more all-star votes than he, despite Uncle Drew playing just 2 games (at the time) while Wall had earned Eastern Conference player of the month awards.  Kyrie responded by basically saying that Wall had a good point and the he has a lot of respect for Wall.  So, maybe downgrade the rivalry rating to 2.5 as long as Beal is out and the Cavs escaped from Waiters Island.

Alas, their fates may be diverging.  Irving is enjoying the luxuries of working himself back into form on a roster that was good enough to win two Finals games (against a historically good championship team) without him.  Wall, meanwhile, is making a habit out of playing through broken bones and other ailments in order to keep his fringe playoff team afloat.  Wizards fans hope with bated breath that the Durantula makes a Jamesian return to his roots and joins the embattled Wall.  Unless that happens, expect the differences between Wall and Irving to begin to outpace the similarities, and the fledgling rivalry to fade into obscurity.