Kyrie's points per game now stand at 25.5 for the season on 47.5/39.3/90.5 splits and 5.8 assists to 2.6 turnovers.
If anyone had told you before the season that we'd be in March and Ky would be averaging 26 points and 6 assists on his most efficient offensive production of his career, we'd be asking if he were in MVP talks. But, he plays with LeBron who still the best player in the league by a wide margin (imo) and these other few players are putting up insane boxscores as well.
...but, how much longer can this Kyrie thing go unnoticed nationally? He's been playing the best, most consistent regular season basketball of his career all season, and most specifically since mid-January (26 games).
Here are his averages in those 26:
28 points on 49% FG, 38% 3PT, 92% FT
6.1 assists
3.1 rebounds
1.2 steals
60% TS
120 OffRtg
56% eFG
in 35.5 minutes
And, just to track what still could potentially be a historical statistical "changing of the guard" if you will, Kyrie still has a legitimate chance to be the Cavs' leading scorer for the season.
As of this moment:
LeBron James: 26.2 points per game (18.0 shots, 7.1 FTAs)
Kyrie Irving: 25.5 points per game (19.8 FGAs, 4.6 FTAs)
Heady stuff for the young fella.
In terms of officiating and the lack of free throw attempts, I feel the time has come for someone either in the front office, coaching staff, a teammate, media member ... someone with some clout that can bring to light the unfairness of the way this man is officiated.
He had 10 free throws last night (2 of which were intentional at the end) and he could really have 8-12 FTAs every night based on how other guys are called. He doesn't flop and he won't sacrifice his balance/odds of hitting a shot to sell a call, but that makes his case even more egregious and easier to plead to the league office.
I just hope back-channels are being worked and think it is time to take it to the front channels. He is one of the most lethal attacking guards in the NBA where he is often hit and banged, guys ride up on him when he pulls up midrange, and he gets his jersey grabbed all the time in P&R situations. I don't even want to get into the hits he takes in transition that almost literally never result in free throws.
If it was called this way across the league I'd have no problem with it, because it obviously doesn't slow Kyrie down too much. But this guy could realistically be averaging 28-30 points a night if he got the benefit of the whistle like most star players do.
To piggyback on
@gourimoko excellent breakdown above, there are just 9 other players in the NBA that have a usage rate of 30.0 or greater and have played over 2,000 minutes this season (which translates to roughly 33-37 minutes nightly).
Kyrie Irving has a usage rate of 30.9 (9th in NBA) and averages 35.1 minutes (15th in NBA).
Here is how using that much of the offense corresponds with free throws. Notice that there is literally one exception and the rest follow a pretty even formula.
Players ranked according to usage rate:
Russ Westbrook - 35 min, 41.9% usage, 10.7 FTAs
DeMarcus Cousins - 34.0 min, 36.6%, 9.3 FTAs
James Harden - 36.5 min, 34.3%, 11.0 FTAs
Isaiah Thomas - 34.1 min, 34.1%, 8.6 FTAs
DeMar Derozan - 35.2 min, 33.9%, 8.5 FTAs
Anthony Davis - 36.1 min, 32.6%, 8.9 FTAs
Damian Lillard - 36.0 min, 31.4%, 7.2 FTAs
Kawhi Leonard - 33.7 min, 31.3%, 7.6 FTAs
Kyrie Irving - 35.1 min, 30.9%, 4.6 FTAs
John Wall - 36.8 min, 30.5%, 6.7 FTAs
LeBron James - 37.6 min, 30.0%, 7.1 FTAs
Key
Flopper Central - Play for Whistles first, baskets second
Officials Respect - Star players who work for their FTs; star players who get calls
No Respect - My only conclusion has to be that the officials do not like/respect Irving; there is only one player in this class
