page_title: Kyrie Irving
section_title: 2014–15 season: Big Three formation and first NBA Finals
hierarchical_section_title: Kyrie Irving / Professional career / Cleveland Cavaliers (2011–2017) / 2014–15 season: Big Three formation and first NBA Finals
caption_attribution_description: English: 20141017 Cleveland Cavaliers vs Dallas Mavericks
context_page_description: Kyrie Andrew Irving is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association. He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. A six-time All-Star and two-time member of the All-NBA Team, he won an NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016.
  Irving played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils before joining the Cavaliers in 2011. He won the Most Valuable Player award for the 2014 All-Star Game. In the 2016 NBA Finals, Irving made the championship-winning three-point field goal to complete the Cavaliers' historic comeback over the Golden State Warriors. After another Finals appearance in 2017, Irving requested a trade and was dealt to the Boston Celtics. He played as a Celtic for two seasons, after which he signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent in 2019. He has also played for the United States national team, with which he won gold at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2018, he starred in the film Uncle Drew.
context_section_description: On July 10, 2014, Irving signed a five-year, $90 million contract extension with the Cavaliers. His contract extension came in the wake of LeBron James's return to Cleveland and Kevin Love's trade request from Minnesota, as the trio teamed up to start a new "Big Three" in Cleveland. After a shaky start to the season, in which they fell to a record of 5–7 after a November 22 loss to Toronto, the Cavaliers went on an eight-game winning streak during which Irving averaged 19.3 points per game, including a 37-point game against the New York Knicks on December 4. After their streak-ending loss on December 11 to Oklahoma City, the Cavaliers went on to win just five more games in December, finishing 2014 at 18–14. All of the new Big Three missed time during December, contributing to team's inconsistency and mediocre play. The Cavaliers began their 2015 schedule on January 2 as they snapped a three-game losing streak with Irving's help. He scored 23 points, and with Love's 27, the Cavaliers defeated the Charlotte Hornets, 91–87. The Cavaliers' next game, against Dallas on January 4, was a season low for Irving, who scored just six points before leaving in the third quarter with lower back tightness; the Cavaliers lost, 109–90. Irving missed the next game, against Philadelphia, before returning to action on January 7 against Houston to tie a then first-half career high of 23 points. He finished the game with a then season-high 38 points, but could not lead the Cavaliers to a win as they lost 105–93, the team's seventh loss in nine games.
  After a six-game losing streak between January 4 and 13 dropped the Cavaliers to 19–20, Irving and James led them on a 12-game winning streak to bring them back into contention. During the streak, Irving averaged 24.5 points per game, including a then career-high 55 points on January 28 against Portland. His 11 three-pointers in that game set a Cavaliers franchise record while his 55 points were the second-most in Cavaliers history (behind James's 56) and the most scored in a home game, as well as the most points scored in Quicken Loans Arena history. His 28 first-half points also set a new career high for points in a half.
  On March 12, 2015, Irving scored a career-high 57 points, including a buzzer-beating three-point shot to send the Cavaliers into overtime, in a 128–125 win over the San Antonio Spurs. It was the most points for a player in a regular-season game against the defending champion since January 14, 1962, when Wilt Chamberlain scored 62 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a loss to the Celtics. The effort also surpassed the Cavaliers' franchise single-game scoring mark of 56 points, set by LeBron James against the Toronto Raptors on March 3, 2005.
  Irving helped the Cavaliers win 34 of their final 43 games to finish the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 53–29 overall record. In his first career playoff game on April 19, Irving scored 30 points in a 113–100 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their first-round playoff matchup. He went on to help the Cavaliers reach the NBA Finals for just the second time in franchise history despite missing two games in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks with a knee injury. After leaving Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in the overtime period with a knee injury, Irving was ruled out for the rest of the series the following day with a fractured left kneecap that required surgery, sidelining him for three to four months. The team lost the series to the Warriors in six games.
caption: Irving shoots a jump shot vs the Dallas Mavericks in 2014
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