Kyrie Irving guarding John Wall
Nov 21, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) shots the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) defends in the second quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 91-78. Reuters

It has been a slow process for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their “Big Three” of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving but slowly but surely, the Cavaliers are returning to top form and trying to live up to the hype of being the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. One of the members of that powerhouse squad in Cleveland is point guard Irving who stated in recent interview that he wants to be known not only for his offensive skills but also for his defensive intensity and focus.

"My first three years, it was just making excuses of offensive burdens and all this other stuff and at the end of the day, I just have to do it for the greater good of our team.” Irving revealed to the Cleveland Plain Dealer last Saturday. “In order for our team to win, I have to be that kind of guy on the defensive end. You can only talk about it for so long and at one point it just has to be done."

The Cavaliers are still not among the top teams in the team standings in the conference with an 8-7 win loss record roughly a month into the new season. However, they have began to pick it up of late winning three in a row responding nicely after a four-game losing streak against the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, San Antonio Raptors and Toronto Raptors from Nov. 17 to Nov. 22.

The Cavaliers last three wins came against the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers and they held those teams to just 86 points per game. For the season, the Cleveland allows opponents to nearly a hundred points per game and their recent effort has reflected their star point guard’s new mentality.

Irving went on to say that he’s tired of being called out by the team during film sessions about his defence.

"I'd rather help other guys and be in position to help and stop my guy instead of the other way around and always being that guy on film. I was on film a lot for the last three years,” Irving said in the same interview. “You get tired of it after a while. You want to be that guy that your teammates trust on a day in, day out basis.”

Irving’s and the Cavaliers’ new commitment to defence will be tested against East teams in their upcoming games. They face the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday before facing the New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors (twice) and Brooklyn Nets in their next four.