Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant look to lead the Nets back to the postseason with a win over the Cavs.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant are undoubtedly one of the more unique pairings in todays NBA. Durant is essentially a 7-foot point guard with his ability to score, handle the ball and make the correct pass when he is double-teamed. That coupled with Irving’s wizardry with the basketball, and his ability to drop buckets in bunches at any given moment, has made them one of the NBA’s most feared duos. But talent alone is not enough to be named amongst the top duos in NBA history, winning certifies that. After a disappointing exit to last year’s playoffs, KD and Kyrie are looking to solidify themselves as one of the top duos by capturing a championship during this year’s playoffs.
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Tracy McGrady Likens Durant, Kyrie Duo to Jordan & Pippen
Durant and Kyrie still have a lot left to prove during this run with the Nets. They have yet to make it out of the second round, let alone the NBA Finals, to compete for a title. But even with their lack of playoff success as a pair, NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady is already placing them in the ranks of championship-winning duos such as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
“I have not seen a pair, a duo that skilled since Mike [Michael Jordan] and Pip [Scottie Pippen]. There is no other dynamic duo that compares to KD and Kyrie,” McGrady said during an episode of “Club Shay Shay” with Shannon Sharpe. “Even if you look at what LeBron and D-Wade were. Skill-wise they still weren’t touching them two boys. Even if I were to play with Grant Hill I still don’t know.”
Tracy McGrady says Kyrie & Kevin Durant are more skilled than LeBron and D-Wade & Jordan and Pippen 👀
“LeBron and D-Wade, skill-wise, are not touching KD and Kyrie.”
Analyst Calls Kyrie Irving More Skilled Than Michael Jordan
When you talk about the most skilled players in NBA history, Kyrie, most likely, is going to be somewhere on everyone’s list. Following a career-high 60-point performance by Irving against the Orlando Magic in March, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins called Kyrie the most skilled player in the history of the league, excluding nobody.
“He is the most skilled player to ever play the game,” Perkins said during a recent taping of NBA Today via a tweet from @_Talkin_NBA. “And it is no disrespect to Michael Jordan. It is no disrespect to the late great Kobe Bryant. It is no disrespect to Olajuwon and a lot of others. But when you look at what Kyrie is doing, how he does it. It’s not what he does, it’s how he does it.”
Kyrie Irving Reacts to Kevin Durant’s Game 1 Performance
Durant left a lot to be desired in the Nets’ Game 1 loss to the Boston Celtics where he shot just 9-24 from the field. But Irving says that he and the Nets are not ready to hit the panic button on Durant after one bad performance.
“Nothing to overthink with Kevin Durant. We know who he is. We know he’s going to go back and watch film, prepare. It may have looked like a bad shooting night, but I know his second half looked a lot better than his first shooting-wise. But he was doing all the little things, and we know how high his expectations are for himself,” Irving told reporters per NetsDaily.
“So, we’re not going to overthink it. But we definitely got to look ourselves in the mirror as a team and see where we can control the little things, the little details that help us be able to close out the game.”
Irving and Durant are already receiving high praise as an all-time duo, despite not having a championship during their Nets tenure. It will be interesting to see if they can further solidify their status with a title during this postseason run.
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