WEST ORANGE (updated Tuesday May 31, 11:12 a.m.) – Kyrie Irving is back in the National Basketball Association Finals.
For the second straight season, the West Orange native has led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals.
Irving had a brilliant performance in the Game 6 series-clinching 113-87 win over the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals on May 27, scoring 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting with nine assists in 40 minutes.
The Cavaliers will play the Golden St. Warriors in a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals won by Golden State. The Warriors beat Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference Finals, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Warriors won a NBA record 73 games in the regular season.
In last year’s NBA Finals, Irving injured his left knee in the Game 1 overtime loss and missed the rest of the series.
Irving, 24, is one of the best players in the NBA, along with teammate LeBron James, a four-time NBA regular-season Most Valuable Player. James came back to Cleveland for the 2014-15 season after spending the previous four seasons with the Miami Heat, leading Miami to the NBA Finals in each of those four seasons and winning back-to-back NBA titles in 2012 and 2013. James played for Cleveland in his first seven seasons before going to Miami.
A point guard who was taken No. 1 overall by the Cavs in the 2011 NBA Draft out of Duke University, Irving averaged 19.6 points and 4.7 assists per game during the regular season. Irving also was the NBA Rookie of the Year and the 2014 NBA All-Star Game MVP.
Irving was a high school All-American for St. Patrick of Elizabeth and graduated in 2010 after transferring from Montclair Kimberley Academy following his sophomore year..
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