The future? How LeBron James bestows 'blueprint' on Kyrie Irving
— -- The two teammates, one already great in his sport by any measure of the word and the other aspiring to be identified as such, made their way off the court after the first of the four wins they would need to bring the city of Cleveland its first professional sports championship in 52 years, and they shared a moment of mutual admiration.
"Way to be special tonight," LeBron James said.
"Yessir," Kyrie Irving?said. "You, too, baby."
Irving had just recorded 30 points and eight assists. James had 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Their efforts helped the Cleveland Cavaliers, who opened the 2016 NBA Finals by dropping Games 1 and 2 to the? Golden State Warriors?by a combined 48 points, win Game 3 by 30 points.
After the duo had two big performances in Games 5 and 6, the stage was set for history to be made.
In Game 7, Irving had 26 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute over Stephen Curry, a play that will be remembered as an impossibly clutch shot and mimicked on driveway courts. James had 27 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and a chase-down block just as remarkable as Irving's ice-in-his-veins triple. And the Cavs took the title as the best basketball team in the world. James was named Finals MVP, becoming the first player in a Finals series to lead all players from either team in all five major statistical categories. Yet on some sports talk shows and in certain corners of the internet, Irving's performance -- from the clinching 3 to outshining back-to-back league MVP Curry over the course of the series -- was heralded as more valuable.
A year later, the Cavs are four wins from the championship again, and the partnership between Irving and James remains strong.
However, both players acknowledge that a shift in power from James to Irving is inevitable, and they are bracing themselves to make it as smooth as possible.
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