Sometimes you watch a game and a certain player just jumps off the screen at you. These were the three who did that for me on Tuesday. And yes, I know that Kyrie Irving has not yet been named an All-Star, but I think that changes Thursday. He’s going to get Doc Rivers vote.
Third Star: Ersan Ilyasova (27 points, 16 rebounds)
Ilyasova is one of those players you don’t hear or think much about, then your team plays the Bucks and you turn to a buddy midway through the third quarter and say, “I wish we had a guy like that.” In this game he knocked down a couple threes and was putting up points, but where he did the real damage was on the offensive glass, where he had seven offensive rebounds. He may have had the dagger shot in this game with his tip in off missed free throw. He had his way with the Philly front line.
Second Star: Kevin Durant (32 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists)
After a pretty “meh” first half (by his standards) Durant looked like an MVP in the final 24 minutes — 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting, 5-of-5 from three, five assists. The best scorer walking the planet was feeling it and just carved up the Clipper defense. There was nothing the Clippers could do. Every time he got just a sliver of daylight it became two points.
First Star: Kyrie Irving (40 points, 5 assists)
Irving has the full arsenal of shots and he seemed determined to show them all to Celtics. He knocked down threes, pulled up for midrange jumpers, and drove to the rim where he hit every kind of contested layup. Irving had 19 first quarter points to help the Cavaliers off to a fast start, but it was his play in the fourth quarter that was most impressive. With just under a minute to go he had a fantastic end-to-end drive for a twisting layup late. Then with 22 seconds left he got an isolation set against Rajon Rondo, blew him and drew a foul for the game-clinching and-1. He was the best player on the court and the Cavs won because of him.
