Irving, James regroup
Together, ex-mates win again
LOS ANGELES — As loathe as he has been to talk about his former NBA home, and especially LeBron James, Kyrie Irving had to admit that a little of that old chemistry reemerged last night.
Asked about the bounce pass he laced to James for a go-ahead layup in the fourth quarter of Team LeBron’s 148-145 over Team Stephen in the NBA All-Star Game, the Celtics guard said, “I played with him a few times.”
Such was the beauty of the new All-Star format, with the top vote-getter in each conference picking teams.
The possibility of an Irving/James reunion was highly anticipated, and probably could not have been better delivered by both players. By the end of the game, Irving was scraping on triple-double territory with a 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
James took home his third All-Star MVP award (Irving has one of those, as well), and put up game highs in points (29) and rebounds (10), and he also had eight assists.
James seemed to especially value the chance, one more time, to collaborate with Irving.
“It was phenomenal. It was phenomenal,” James said. “Any time you’re able to get back and play with one of your old teammates, and as great as he is, we all know that. The flashiness, the ball handling, the ability to shoot, it was just great to get back on the floor with him. It was a great moment, for sure.”
Irving valued that quality in all of his one-night teammates.
It was the best All-Star Game in memory, and the pick ’em format seemed to develop a bond between the players.
That and the increase in prize money. Winning shares were boosted this year to $100,000 — an increase of $50,000 from last year.
“Well, I think there was a goal that you wanted to attain,” Irving said. “There was something that we could look forward to if we got a win. I (have to) bring up the cash prize.”
Money aside, there was something about the format that appealed more to Irving.
“I think everybody in this room would be doing the same things we were doing (without the money),” he said. “I think it did give some incentive, but also surrounding and circulating kind of the opinions of what the All-Star Game has kind of turned into, I think we all took it kind of personal.
“Individually we wanted to come out and be competitive. Last year it was like (192-182) — that’s just not as fun as communicating with guys that you don’t necessarily play with every single day, bouncing ideas off each other in the timeouts. It’s just that competitive fire that we all share.
“I think that having the captains and selecting the guys and being able to mix them up gave it a more authentic feel of kind of what us players want to be part of in an All-Star Game. It’s great to play with guys in your conference, East/ West. But when you get a chance to have Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and you know they’re teammates already, and then you mix them with myself, and Kemba (Walker), and LeBron, and you could see the mix and it just worked.”
Based on the experience of Irving and his peers last night, the new format is undoubtedly here to stay.
“The hope is that it’s only going to get better. This was pretty fun,” he said. “I think that we showcased that tonight with an incredible competitive spirit. The game was kind of getting away, but I think a few of us took it a little personal that we wanted to keep the game still competitive and at a high level.
“Fans and everyone across so many different countries want to see the best players in the world showcase their talent. So that lasts about eight minutes, nine minutes. That was extremely fun. You love that type of basketball, and the fact that we’re asking for instant replays in the All-Star Game and guys are just going at it . . . . (I was) truly appreciative that I could be a part of it, and I think the NBA kind of hit it right on the head. They did a great job of trying to figure out the way to get the most out of us and the most out of this weekend.”