The Point-Fourward: Singular Genius

Four point play…

1.

He can’t stop me. 

Bending down to grab the ball rolling slowly back to his feet, the guard sniggers.

Yeah. Like that’s going to wreck my rhythm. 

He snatches up the ball in one motion instantly moving into a triple-threat position, right foot forward, ball near his left hip.

He doesn’t pick up either foot. No pivot foot has been established.

Really dude?! You are going to try to shade me left? 

The hulking man in front of him extends a giant left hand into his face. It doesn’t bother the guard in the least. He is looking at the defender’s midsection searching for a split second of relaxation.

I should Shammgod this fool until he falls over.

The guard’s mere thought of driving left rocks the massive defender momentarily onto his heels. The guard stabs the ball left, low and forward before sweeping it from left to right and up into his shooting motion.

The defender’s superhero body is a moment too late in recovering balance. The shot rainbows through the air, but both men already know that’s game.

I am the greatest ball-handler in history and I don’t even need a single dribble.

And so he goes, mowing through one All-NBA player after another. Winner’s outs means never having to play defense. It seems a more pertinent idiom than the one about love and apology.

Occasionally, he’ll miss a shot. The other guy will score a few buckets off of bully-ball backdowns before getting “big man bored” and hoisting one from deep. The guard will chuckle at the opponent’s stupidity and not let him see the rock again.

Only with left hand off glass this game. 

Only on Jordan fallaways in this one.

No one can stop the guard. He knows it. Everyone in the gym knows it. He is the greatest one-on-one player in the world. Ya know, if you only play winner’s outs.

2. NBA guys play with a variety of one-on-one rules in practice. There is the “two dribbles or less”, up to an assortment of scores, and even the occasional loser’s outs.

In basketball world in general, playing loser’s outs (possessions alternating regardless of outcome) is thought of as child’s play. Real ballers play winner’s outs (make-it-take-it).

Kyrie Irving is simply unguardable in traditional ballers’ one-on-one. He can get any shot he wants. More importantly, his “I’m taking this shot because I’m bored and/or tired” is still a good shot. Frequently, a bigman who could absolutely destroy any guard will get bored after three or four post-ups and will try something outside of his skill-set. Kyrie’s “bored shot” is far more likely to go in than Shaq’s.

Why am I talking about one-on-one ball?

It may give us some insight as to the degree of Kyrie Irving’s belief in himself. Back in 2012, Irving was already confident enough to know that he could beat Kobe Bryant head to head. Sure, Kobe could have beaten him too. Kobe’s competitive edge would have likely persuaded him to take fewer bad shots. Of course, it could have also had the opposite effect, forcing him to try to beat Kyrie with Kyrie type moves. That would have been foolish. Even prime Kobe didn’t have the full offensive arsenal that Kyrie Irving has. Regardless, Irving already felt unstoppable five years ago.

Who knows how many times Kyrie and LeBron have played one-on-one. I’m betting Kyrie beats The King more often than not. I can’t imagine James plays a disciplined one-on-one game unless it is for his family’s life. Even in real NBA games, LeBron has been known to dally in the inefficient for the sake of fun. He truly knows he could physically go through any player across from him. It’s more fun to actually play basketball sometimes.

I imagine that in a game that comes down to “whose bad shot is better?”, Irving comes out on top. No one expects Kyrie to be able to guard LeBron. They do expect the opposite. When Irving scores easily against LeBron, it helps build his own internal legend.

3. It’s easy to regard one-on-one ability as completely irrelevant to NBA players. It’s not. It’s what all these guys grew up with and what they respect. It’s biological. It’s the reason that Kobe was often cited as “best player in the world” by his peers when he was clearly not the best player on an NBA court. It’s the reason that a player like Mathew Dellavedova gets so little respect from players who have never been on his team. And it’s the reason why Kyrie Irving is 100% sure that he is just as good as LeBron James. In one-on-one, he is.

In his mind, he can cherry-pick that fact and leave team basketball out of the equation. We all do it everyday. An optimist cherry-picks the positive and a pessimist cherry-picks the negative. Neither is a realist. They just have different quality cherries in their baskets.

Kyrie Irving has already experienced the pressure of being “the man” after a LeBron James departure. Even if one doesn’t believe LeBron will leave Cleveland again, James will eventually retire. I can totally understand why Irving wouldn’t look forward to an opportunity to have all the risk of criticism with little chance of praise. Even if Irving were successful, the media narrative would likely focus on what LeBron’s mentoring role was in that success. If he weren’t, his entire Finals legacy would be diminished.

All the while, his peers would still be abjectly terrified to play him. Opposing players all know that Kyrie is unstoppable. If you had switched Kyrie in the place of James Harden or Russell Westbrook last season, he would likely have scored 35 PPG, albeit with fewer assists.

4. Irving has played those guys countless times. He knows that he can do what they did. One could attempt to label his desire to try such a thing as being selfish. The thing is, Kyrie already has Olympic Gold and an NBA Championship. The young man wants to flex his muscle a little bit while he is in his prime.

He will never be able to do that in Cleveland. Even if LeBron does leave.

Curry. Yeah right.

Russ. Man, he’s a load, but he can’t shoot and my handle is better.

The Beard. Let’s see him do that without refs.

John Wall. Can’t shoot, Can’t finish. 

Chris Paul. He’s too small. Where’s the next level?

Kawhi. Who? Just playin’. Yeah, he’s solid.

KD. Okay, Okay. Dude can play.

Bron. Can we just not talk about him for two seconds? Seriously, give me two seconds without this dude coming up in conversation. Yes, he’s great. We all know. But ya know what? He can’t lock me up either. Don’t look at me like that. Ya know what, screw it. You’ll see. I’m out.