Kyrie Irving for MVP?

Everybody has been talking about James Harden or perhaps Giannis Antetokounmpo for the NBA MVP this season. One sleeper player that deserves plenty of consideration is Kyrie Irving. The Celtics leader has so much on his shoulders and is doing a tremendous job handling the pressure.

Career Highs

The past week or so has shown Kyrie set career highs in multiple categories. This isn’t due to him trying to pad his stats to make himself look good either, the dude is doing anything it takes to win. Last Wednesday, the Celtics took on the top team in the NBA Toronto Raptors. This game saw Boston come out on top, and featured Kyrie setting a career high in assists with 18. Along with passing the ball like a maniac, Kyrie also dropped 27 points on the Raptors heads. Fucking insane. This meant the most because the Celtics are hoping to be in the Eastern Conference Championship and Toronto would be their likely opponent.

Just a few days later, Kyrie set a career high in steals against the Miami Heat. Uncle Drew gave us his best Marcus Smart impression and recorded 8 steals. He had 26 points and 10 assists making him 2 steals shy of getting a super uncommon triple double. Both career highs were against teams that will be in the playoffs this year. Irving knows when the hell to step it up. Celtics fan can do nothing but love this man.

How Can He Accomplish This?

If Kyrie keeps up how he is playing, the rest is more of a team effort. The team needs to be successful to give Kyrie that extra boost into the national MVP conversation. The Celtics sit as the 5^th seed in the Eastern Conference currently. I don’t think it would be possible for him to be the MVP if this remains the case. Boston won’t need to be the top seed in the east but should at the very least hop into the top 3 teams. On top of that, Kyrie should keep being a stud in those prime time games that receive plenty of national attention. A good starting point for this is this coming Saturday when the Golden State Warriors come to Boston. A win would be great and all, but regarding MVP positioning the Celtics point guard needs to absolutely ball out. The way James Harden is playing is almost guaranteeing him the MVP, but even a top 3 consideration for Kyrie Irving would be a huge honor and well deserved. All we can do is enjoy this great NBA season and hope for the best.

-Brandon Black