Kyrie Irving living up to LeBron James’ MVP premonition as Cavs keep rolling

4:12 AM ET

CLEVELAND — The reality TV show “Last Point Guard Standing,” otherwise known as the NBA playoffs, continued Tuesday with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving taking on the next contestant he’ll try to eliminate on his way to a championship: Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, much like this individual matchup, went Irving’s way by a landslide, as the Cavs trounced the Raptors 115-84, with Irving putting up 27 points on 11-for-17 shooting, five assists, two steals and two turnovers to Lowry’s eight points on 4-for-14 shooting, five assists, zero steals and four turnovers.

It was significant not only because Lowry comes at a point on the gauntlet that Irving is charged with navigating after Reggie Jackson, Dennis Schroder and Jeff Teague and before either Russell Westbrook or Stephen Curry, but also due to the connection that Lowry sparked between Irving and LeBron James earlier in the season.

You see, back in January, when Irving had barely reached three weeks into his return from a devastating knee injury that sidelined him for more than six months, he found himself in a neck-and-neck race in the voting to be named a starting guard for the East in the All-Star Game. James, perhaps sensing that Lowry would ultimately overtake Irving in the popularity contest — considering Toronto would host the February festivities — gave his teammate perhaps the greatest endorsement he could give.

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Toronto got off to a hot start, but that was as good as it got for the Raptors as the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the rest of Game 1, 115-84.Box score »Game highlights »Fan reaction »Game HQ »

“He’s special. He’s that special, man. He’s much better than an All-Star. Much better than an All-Star,” James said at the time.

“I mean, there would never be a question if Kyrie Irving is the MVP, as long as he’s on the floor and he’s healthy.”

Coming from a four-time MVP in James, the significance of the statement was not lost on Irving.

“When you have a great player like that on your team, you just have to learn from him and take what you can from him,” Irving told ESPN.com on his way out of Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday, after sharing the postgame podium with James, a pairing that’s happened regularly during the Cavs’ 9-0 start to the playoffs. “I’ve had a tremendous opportunity. I’m fortunate enough to have a mentor in Kobe [Bryant] and having a teammate, a brother like ‘Bron. Those are guys that I can kind of bounce ideas off of. And every single day ‘Bron’s been demanding excellence out of me. I think that’s been the maturity and the growth of this …

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