CLEVELAND CAVS.com – Cleveland Cavaliers point guard, Kyrie Irving, has been named an NBA Eastern Conference All Star, the league announced tonight on TNT. The voting for reserves was done by the Eastern Conference head coaches.
“I’m truly blessed and thankful for the opportunity that the NBA has afforded me,” Irving said. “This is more of a blessing for our team and the city of Cleveland and that’s what it’s mainly about. I’m just really happy and excited for this opportunity.”
Irving, 20, is currently averaging 23.7 points per game (3rd overall in the East and first in the league among point guards) on .467 shooting, to go along with 5.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 35.7 minutes per game. He is also shooting .841 from the free throw line and .399 from three-point range. The 6-foot-3, 191-pound point guard is one of only two players (LeBron James) in the East averaging at least 20 points and five assists. He has scored 40 or more points twice this season, joining Carmelo Anthony as the only Eastern Conference players to score at least 40 points multiple times this year. Irving has the third-highest points per game average in the fourth quarter in the East at 6.1, which is also the highest among all point guards in the NBA. Among Eastern Conference point guards with at least 30 starts, Irving’s 22.3 PER is the highest.
