Not sure how anyone can have that critical a take on Kyrie's defense this year. His effort has been tremendous and he is easily playing the best defense of his career this year. As a whole, he has been a pleasant surprise defensively, imo. Really not bad at all.
Probably true - but this group is like two different teams with Irving and without him ..................... and there is a noticeable difference in defensive effort and offensive ball movement when he does not play, whatever the reason may be.
The ball movement stuff people that don't like Kyrie spout is pure rubbish. During the game a stat came up showing Boston making over 300 passes a game in December, up considerably from November. It resulted in the offense being the highest scoring amount in the league in December. Kyrie missed only one December game while leading the team in assists at 7.2 per game. This season's lack of ball movement was a team thing, earlier this year, not a Kyrie thing.
This will likely be ignored because you provided actual stats that support your argument.
Nick also backed up the same with Rondo
Irving passes are one and done usually with little time left on the clock
Where are the 2nd and 3rd passes?
This is what he is not getting... the "eye test" shows the ball is in one players hand (Irving) a good chunk of the game... and team synergy on both ends = low
Vs tonight the passing starts early and at least 2- 3 players get a touch before making baskets (easier ones). There was almost no "force" shots tonight