Get ready, NBA, for the return of Masked Kyrie Irving. No, I’m not referring to Uncle Drew, here. The errant Aron Baynes elbow that smashed into Irving’s face Friday and ended his night reportedly caused a facial fracture, and you know what that means:
Need I remind you that last time Irving was forced to wear a protective mask—December of 2012—he broke out that terrifying shiny black mask pictured above, and dropped a then-career-high 41 points on an absurd shooting line (15-25 from the floor, 5-8 from three, 6-7 from the line) on the Knicks? The Celtics play the Raptors later today, before traveling to [gulp] New York to play the Brooklyn Nets Tuesday. May God have mercy on those poor sons of bitches.
Facial fractures are obviously bad, and disgusting, and nobody likes them, but NBA players wearing masks while shredding their bare-faced opponents—especially if those masks make them look like a cross between Zorro and Batman—is definitely a cool thing. Bring them to their knees, Masked Kyrie.