The Golden State Warriors might want to pay attention.
Just over a day before Game 7 of the NBA Finals, ESPN’s Sport Science broke down the incredible quickness and agility that’s helped Kyrie Irving play the best ball of his career on the game’s biggest stage. Will knowing the metrics behind the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar’s help Steve Kerr’s team? Maybe not, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.
Here’s what Sport Science found out after analyzing Kyrie:
- Kyrie can accelerate for a quick layup or pull pack for a jump shot almost faster then anyone else in the league.
- He can accelerate up to 12mph in just two strides! So can my Ford Focus, ha!
- From the 3 point line, Kyrie can get to the basket in 1.5 seconds, which is 15% faster then average.
- He only exposes the ball for .25 seconds while crossing over, but since it takes .2 seconds to visually recognize what’s happening it’s almost impossible to stop. I would love to see his stat compared to other top point guards like Curry, Westbrook and Paul.
Another fascinating fact I would have never guessed is during the regular season he averaged more points off drives than Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant combined!
Pretty impressive, right? Needless to say, we can’t wait to watch Irving put his quicks to use in Sunday’s Game 7. Good luck stopping him, Warriors.