Today in Sneaker History, Kyrie Irving posted a double-nickel against the Portland Trailblazers back in 2015. For those of you unfamiliar with the basketball term ‘double-nickel’ it means 55 points – and was first coined (pun intended) back when MJ dropped 55 against the Knicks fresh out of his first retirement.
With Lebron sidelined due to a sprained wrist Kyrie picked up the slack and completely torched the Blazers (99-94) with a diverse offensive game. According to ESPN Stats & Info Twitter, “Kyrie Irving and Joe Dumars are the only players in NBA history to make 10 3-pointers and 10 free throws in the same game.” What’s even more impressive is the fact that Irving got to 55 on just 17 made field goals!
Kyrie’s impressive game was huge to the newly reacquired Cavalier, Lebron James, because it proved that Irving could take over games much like D-Wade did when he backed-up ‘Bron in Miami. For years Kyrie was criticized for being unable to make the Cavs winners with his obvious talent, but once LeBron arrived Irving became a bonafide star. As a side note, this double-nickel wasn’t even Kyrie’s best game of the season… he scored a career high 57 points a few months later on the road against the Spurs.
The stars aligned for Uncle Drew during that turnaround 2014-15 season as he finally received his first signature shoe with Nike. After years of being one of the Hyperdunk’s main faces (much like Paul George) Nike released the Zoom Kyrie 1 to much fanfare. Even though the Cavs stank during Kyrie’s Hyperdunk days he was still an extremely popular player so fans were stoked to see a signature shoe baring his name.
Peep the shoe’s official specs via Nike:
Let’s wrap up this story with a better look at Kyrie’s PEs from his memorable 55 piece nugget, enjoy!
Aaron Nojima
Mike Guillory
Nick Engvall