Kyrie Irving came out and played his first game since falling to a knee cap injury in the last National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals and the understanding was he would be broken in slowly.
Being the competitor that he is though, Irving is not one to back down and allow anyone to take advantage once he is sent in to play. That includes an old rival playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, Kendall Marshall.
The two have been rivals since high school and so it sort of seems ironic to see them go up against each other again.
Perhaps knowing that Irving is still fresh from recovering from his injury, Marshall felt that he could take advantage of the situation by going isolation on the Cleveland Cavaliers star guard.
The move was something any player would expectedly do but in this case, Marshall may have known better than see Irving stand down and give him an easy time. And Marshall learned the hard way since it technically fired up Irving en route to 12 points, four assists, and two steals in just 17 minutes of action as the Cavs expectedly won over the Sixers, 108–86.
Irving announced he would be finally returning to action recently, but many knew that he would be on restricted minutes. With that said, it was expected that Irving would be groping for form in his first game of the 2015–16 NBA season until the Sixers tried to take advantage of the situation.
It wasn't a bad performance on the part of Irving who is expected to build on his first game and get back into the groove of things. His return further bolsters the Cavs who have been in need of additional firepower, with LeBron James and Kevin Love seemingly the only ones consistent among the charges of head coach David Blatt.
