Late last week, John Wall torched the Cleveland Cavaliers to the tune of 28 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Kyrie Irving, who didn’t guard Wall for the entire 91-78 Washington Wizards victory on national TV, has requested more defensive responsibility from the Cavs’ coaching staff.
Cleveland will have a chance to avenge the loss Wednesday night as they play host to the Wizards, and Irving says he’s ready for the challenge of slowing down burgeoning backcourt stars like Wall and others.
Per the NOMG:
“They had us on our heels all game last time,” LeBron James said after Wednesday’s shootaround. “They were more physical than us, played with more passion, more speed than us. They executed better than us. They did all the facets of the game. The only thing they didn’t do better than us was turn the ball over. We did that better than them.”
“Based on the lineup, whatever our team needs, if one person gets going whether it be the one or two, I’m going to guard them,” Irving said. “It’s just more or less a personal challenge. It takes a team effort to guard everybody and for me, I’m either on the one or the two. We just have to figure that out.”
Irving said he had a chat with the coaching staff and asked not to be reassigned. […] “I told them that whenever I have a chance to guard the point guards, just leave me on him and we have our two guards guard the twos,” he revealed. “I just have to do the job at stopping the head of the snake.”
