LeBron James infamously admonished Kyrie Irving for having no assists in an early loss to the Jazz last season.
With LeBron resting, Irving scored 33 points to lead the Cavaliers to 99-98 win over the Mavericks yesterday.
But Irving took 28 shots and had only one assist in 39 minutes.
Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com:
After the game, a few players were puzzled to how their point guard managed to register one assist while playing 39 minutes. They were frustrated, but the win and Irving’s huge defensive play lessened the anger.
The notion within the locker room is that the situation is tolerable, because it isn’t permanent. If the Cavaliers were dealt the misfortune of playing without James for an extended period, this locker room would be boiling over.
Players are growing tired of Irving’s inability to not only register a proper amount of assists at the lead guard position, but also to just move the ball.
First, here’s how Irving ranks among the NBA’s 30 starting point guards in a few key stats:
Assists per game: 25th (4.5)
Assists per 36 minutes: 24th (5.2)
Potential assists per 36 minutes: 24th (12.8)
Potential assists per game: 25th (10.9)
Passes per 36 minutes: 28th (58.3)
Passes per game: 26th (49.9)
Percentage of touches ending in pass: 24th (68.5%)
Seconds per touch: 10th (4.7)
Dribbles per touch: 12th (4.7)
With LeBron resting, Irving scored 33 points to lead the Cavaliers to 99-98 win over the Mavericks yesterday.
But Irving took 28 shots and had only one assist in 39 minutes.
Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com:
After the game, a few players were puzzled to how their point guard managed to register one assist while playing 39 minutes. They were frustrated, but the win and Irving’s huge defensive play lessened the anger.
The notion within the locker room is that the situation is tolerable, because it isn’t permanent. If the Cavaliers were dealt the misfortune of playing without James for an extended period, this locker room would be boiling over.
Players are growing tired of Irving’s inability to not only register a proper amount of assists at the lead guard position, but also to just move the ball.
First, here’s how Irving ranks among the NBA’s 30 starting point guards in a few key stats:
Assists per game: 25th (4.5)
Assists per 36 minutes: 24th (5.2)
Potential assists per 36 minutes: 24th (12.8)
Potential assists per game: 25th (10.9)
Passes per 36 minutes: 28th (58.3)
Passes per game: 26th (49.9)
Percentage of touches ending in pass: 24th (68.5%)
Seconds per touch: 10th (4.7)
Dribbles per touch: 12th (4.7)