Kyrie Irving Explains Goal To Play 'Complete Year' On Both Ends

Kyrie Irving is known for his elite-level offense but he's set a goal to establish himself defensively this season.

When you think of one of the most offensively gifted players in the NBA, Kyrie Irving's name comes up in that conversation: A three-level scoring guard who gives the opposing team nightmares to slow down. That superstar firepower is highly coveted in Brooklyn but it's the other end of the floor that the Brooklyn Nets and himself want to see growth. 

Challenge accepted. 

The Nets have opened the regular season on a struggling note against tough competition. Boasting a 1-4 record, the team has shown glimpses of their potential but one of the most surprising bright spots through the early whirlwinds has been Irving's defensive presence. 

“I thought Kai [Kyrie Irving] all year has been fighting. He’s really worked to try to defend,” Nets head coach, Steve Nash said after Brooklyn's overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night. “When he does other things like that, you really are grateful for the performances. It’s not always just about scoring; it’s about finding different ways to help your team. He’s doing that in different ways.”

The guard's presence on the boards and his overall presence on the defensive end of the floor helped Brooklyn compete in Thursday's overtime defeat to the Dallas Mavericks. Irving swatted a career-high-tying four shots - accomplished on 12/20/2013 with the Cleveland Cavaliers - and snagged five of his seven boards on the defensive end. 

That performance comes one day after the 6-foot-2 guard went up and grabbed a season-high nine rebounds against the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum. Both of those performances included high-scoring numbers. 

"This year, I definitely wanted to play a complete year fully on both ends of the floor," Irving stated postgame. "That means challenging myself and getting four blocks, sometimes it happens. Other times and in other games, it may be fouls. Who knows which way it can go. [I] just want to stay aggressive and keep our defense in a great position every single possession down if we can. Just do my job as an individual defender knowing that it takes for me doing my job for everybody to ramp up their level as well."

The seven-time NBA All-Star is averaging 5.0 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 0.8 blocks across the Nets' first five regular season games. If Irving can keep that pace in those defensive categories, all would set career highs for the 12-year guard. 

To make things sweeter, his 27.3 points per game is just a hair shy of his career-high in a single season (27.4). He has scored 30+ points in three of Brooklyn's five games.