Kyrie Irving vs. Damian Lillard

[ISO]

Well to bring another "silly" analogy, lets say we have the same number of attempts with the around the same FG%. But you use your left AND right while I only use my right. Are we both equal finishers? The creativity of Kyrie is what puts him above Dame in that regard..

And I considered the defense between the two as a toss up. The reason I went with Kyrie is because I''ve seen him play good to great defense at the biggest stage (finals last year). I havent seen Dame but if the numbers say otherwise, I'll concede that...

Except Dame doesn't just use his right. He is a super skilled highly creative finisher who can contort his body, hit up and unders, play the glass, hit reverses, and finish over the top with dunks, he's also generally more aggressive and plays and absorbs contact while Kyrie avoids contact when he finishes (7.3 FTA to Kyrie's 4.6 FTA).

Foul drawing and putting pressure on the defense is part of slashing.

 

[Arithmetic]

Dame because he is not a kewn as @Supreme Leader Reinscarf would say

 

[DlAMONDZ]

Kyrie brought Cleveland their first title. fukk has Dame done?

 

[ISO]

Kyrie brought Cleveland their first title. fukk has Dame done?

Yeah, Kyrie single handedly brought Cleveland the title. There wasn't a guy who led the Finals in every statistical category, there wasn't a guy who scored 11 points to Kyrie's 3 in that 4Q, and had the biggest defensive play in Finals history.

What makes you think Dame can't do what Kyrie does next to Bron?

 

[DoubleClutch]

At what? Having an aethetically pleasing game, having explosive scoring outbursts?

Dame scores at a similar clip while being better at every other aspect of the game and being a better leader.

Kyries the best thing scoring wise in iso since Kobe.

Kyrie gets buckets whenever in whatever way

Dame gets hot and scores in bunches mostly off 3s. He's good and scores easier doing less But he's not on Kyries level in ISO or even killer instinct/clutchness.

Everything else besides scoring (rebounds, assists, FG percentage)
Isn't that much of a difference to give dame the edge

 

[revan]

The eye test goes to Kyrie. I'd love to see Dame on the big stage though.

 

[ISO]

Kyrie gets buckets whenever in whatever way

Dame gets hot and scores in bunches mostly off 3s.

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

I've never been a big Kyrie fan but I think Kyrie is the better talent........His biggest problem is that I think his development as a leader and playmaker has been stunted by the presence of LeBron and the injuries his first 3 seasons where as Dame was really given the keys from jump street and had talent like LMA, Batum, Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez to play with. Kyrie started off his career with TRASH and then had to play with LeBron who controls every aspect of the organization.....still he was the more efficient scorer in a worse situation.

I think Kyrie is the much better scorer, more efficient, more matchup proof and unstoppable in high leverage situations which is extremely valuable in the playoffs.

Honestly Dame's series against the Clippers in 2016 before Chris Paul got hurt told me a lot about him. He was downright abysmal and Chris Paul had him in a straight jacket. That's something that just wouldn't happen to Kyrie at this stage of Chris Paul's career regardless of his reputation as a defender.

Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Clippers Box Score, April 17, 2016 | Basketball-Reference.com
Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Clippers Box Score, April 20, 2016 | Basketball-Reference.com

 

[ISO]

still he was the more efficient scorer in a worse situation.

 

[Black Bolt]

Dame had proven himself as a credible #1 option whereas the Cavs turn to a lottery team when Kyrie's at the helm.

 

[Osmosis]

Kyrie is better. Both are extremely flawed players and as one-dimensional as you can be but Kyrie's skillset is more vast. Basically, they're both scorers but Kyrie is the better scorer.. Therefore he's better.

 

[Everythingg]

Except Dame doesn't just use his right. He is a super skilled highly creative finisher who can contort his body, hit up and unders, play the glass, hit reverses, and finish over the top with dunks,

This is my point. Kyrie has Dame beat in all these categories except finishing over the top.

he's also generally more aggressive and plays and absorbs contact while Kyrie avoids contact when he finishes (7.3 FTA to Kyrie's 4.6 FTA).

Foul drawing and putting pressure on the defense is part of slashing.

Its a part of slashing, but its not a part of being a better finisher.

 

[Supreme365]

What does Kyrie do better than Dame?

Score

 

[ade]

To me Dame is the better creator for others, he is a P&R maestro and he has a really good lefty shovel pass, he seems to drag defense out further because he has better range than Kyrie as well. The assists per game seem to agree that Dame is a better passer with a career 6.8 assists per game to Kyrie's 6.1, and a career average 6.2 assists to Kyrie's 5.5 assists.

Another area where they are closer in, is defense. Both are poor defenders, but statistically Dame is the lesser of two evils. Dame has worked with Gary Payton in Oakland on his defense, Kyrie just reads the passing lanes better than Dame.

Durability also got to be taken into account. Dame has never played less than 75 games.

What good is range if his efficiency is much lower though? Kyrie shoots the 3 at a much higher clip than Dame. 3 times in Kyrie"s career he's shot at least 40% from 3. 2 of those times Lebron wasn't even on the team. Kyrie shot a better percentage from 3 in his rookie year than Dame did for his entire career.

In General Kyrie is more efficient offensively...finishes better..his contested layup numbers are near the top of the league...Dame is much improved in terms of finishing but he doesn't have as many attempts nor is he as efficient

Dame definitely has Kyrie beat as a playmaker though. And you're right his Durability would be a huge factor in any discussion

 

[SadimirPutin]

jesus christ....how did I miss this?

Dame packed that on Gobert something filthy