Young Rising Star

Kyrie Irving is a 21 year old point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers that is approaching superstar status. Irving was born in Australia, but he dazzled the crowds at St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His dad was a professional basketball player over in Australia making Kyrie born there. There has been stories told that Irving had a hoop that only had half the backboard growing up. He used to practice on that using crazy spin shots at the rim. This is why when you watch him play he is hitting all kinds of different shots at the rim. Irving also has arguably the best handle in the league, and he said that he used to ball handling drills with a plastic bag covering the ball.

Kyrie Irving attended Duke University where he played for one of the greatest coaches ever in Mike Krzyzewski. As a freshman Kyrie average 17.5 points per game, shooting 53% from the field, and an incredible 90% from the free throw line. Kyrie was injured 8 games into the season and then ended up being able to play 3 games at the end in the NCAA tournament.

Playing only 11 games of college basketball had some people questioning where he should go in the NBA draft. Irving went number one in the draft and very quickly showed that he was well worthy of it. Kyries rookie year he averaged 18.5 points per game to go along with 6 assists. He won a well deserved rookie of the year that season. Last year in his second season he averaged 22.5 points per game and 6 assists while dazzling crowds with his late game heroics. Irving can be quiets all game, but when that 4th quarter hits, watch out. There is a reason they call him Mr. 4th quarter. In only his second season Kyrie earned a spot on the NBA All-star squad. This season he is off to a pretty good start having scoring games of 41,39,29,and 28 already.

"Kyrie Irving shooting a technical foul free throw on November 2, 2013"
(My image Dominique Neely)

Right or Left Hand?

Tristan Thompson of the Cleveland Cavaliers is an up and coming player in the NBA these days. The Canada native played his college ball at the University of Texas. Thompson ended up playing one year at Texas and then he managed to enter the NBA draft.

Over the summer Thompson made a change that most the players in the NBA could not do. Thompson changed his shooting hand from right hand to left hand. Granted that he is ambidextrous, making that kind of a change is pretty remarkable. He was actually shooting around in the summer for his Canadian National team when this was brought to his attention. Jeremy Pargo challenged Tristan Thompson to a shooting contest with their opposite hands. Thompson impressively beat him very handily and Pargo encouraged him to switch his hands. Pargo told him that he is a very solid NBA player, but he thought that if he made the switch to the right hand that he could become an all star.

In his first and second seasons in the NBA Thompson shot a poor 55% and 60% from the free throw line. Now in his third year he has started off the season shooting an impressive 75% from the line. Whether the change is better for him remains to be seen, but so far it is looking good for the young kid.

"Tristan Thompson tries to find the open man on November 2nd, 2013"
(My image Dominique Neely)

First NBA game of the year

On Saturday, November 2nd, I attended my first NBA game of the season between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers. The game was held at Bankers Life Arena in Indianapolis, IN. The Cavaliers came in with a record of 1 and 1 beating a top eastern conference team in the Brooklyn Nets and loosing to a poor Charlotte Bobcats team. The Pacers came in at 2 and 0 beating the Orlando Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Coming into the game I expected it to be a very competitive game. The Pacers are the better team, but their starting point guard, George Hill, and their starting small forward, Danny Granger, was injured. Cleveland is expected to make the playoffs this year and they have enough talent to compete with anyone.

Starting off the game Cleveland looked ready to go playing with great energy. Anderson Varejao started them off with four straight jumpers leading them to a pretty solid first quarter. The game stayed relatively close all the way to the fourth quarter. The Pacers had a seven point lead heading into the fourth quarter and ended up winning by fifteen.

I was disappointed in how Cleveland played overall. I thought Dion Waiters took way too many shots as he finished with a team high 17 points, but shot 7-21 from the field which is not efficient at all. Kyrie Irving is the Cavaliers star player and  has started off the season in a slump as he finished with 15 points going 6-17 from the field. The biggest disappointment was the Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson. The first game of the season he had 18 points and 9 rebounds and the second game he had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Against the Pacers he had 2 points and 4 rebounds which was a huge key at why the Pacers won.

The Pacers got a huge game from Lance Stephenson who is filling the role of Danny Granger right now while he is injured. Stephenson finished with 22 points going 5-7 from the three. The Pacers star player Paul George had a nice game with 21 points and 13 rebounds. The only disappointment I saw from the Pacers was their sure-handed power forward David West who only score 4 points and grabbed 3 rebounds.

"Tristan Thompson and Roy Hibbert tip it up on November 2, 2013"
(My image Dominique Neely)