After going back to the mask, Kyrie Irving is shooting lights out

After ditching a protective face mask in the middle of the Celtics’ win over the Warriors on Nov. 16, Kyrie Irving has worn the headgear in every game over the last two weeks to help protect a broken bone in his face.

"[The mask] felt good," Irving told reporters in Atlanta after going back to it for the first time." You didn't see me take it off as much, so that's a positive. I could see just a little bit more of the crowd tonight, the eye holes were a little bit bigger. The basket looked a little bit better."

Irving torched the Hawks for 30 points that night on 10-of-12 shooting and the basket has continued to look pretty big for him throughout Boston’s recent schedule. Over the past seven games, Irving is averaging 29.9 points per game on 58 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from 3-point range. That points per game average is the third highest mark in the NBA over the last two weeks (just behind Steph Curry and James Harden) and his 58 percent shooting mark has been the best in the NBA among high volume shooters (12 or more attempts per game). That’s an impressive feat for a 6-foot-3 guard who takes more than five 3-point attempts per game.

“It’s a luxury,” Al Horford said of Irving’s recent play. “Not a lot of teams have that. Just his will to win and make those shots, when we need it most, just keeps impressing me game by game.”

“I say all the time how spoiled we are to coach players at this level, and he’s certainly one of the most gifted scorers in the game,” Brad Stevens said after Irving scored 36 points on Thursday night. “And, you know, he can do things just with a tiny amount of space and make it look easy. And it’s really, really tough. I mean, even the – he made a couple of the one-on-one plays late where he drove it, but even the dribble hand-off shot that made in the corner, I mean, it was pretty well-defended, and he just has a special ability.”

Irving’s free throw attempts per game have also skyrocketed over that stretch (6.7 per game, which ranks 11th in the NBA over the past two weeks), an area that has never been a strength for the 25-year-old throughout his career (4.5 FTA per game for career). The All-Star admitted recently that as he’s become more comfortable with his role in Boston and it’s helped him attack the basket with greater efficiency.

“I just think that the aggressive mindset probably just increased a little bit more,” he said earlier this week on the increased free throw volume. “Just getting into the lane. I don’t think it’s the mask. But the better shape you continue to get back into, coming into the regular season, the more games you play, the higher energy you can sustain. So being able to catch guys off guard, being able to get fouls and draw it and still be able to finish, that will still come over time.”

The recent outburst has made a dramatic impact not just on Irving’s individual season numbers (he’s now shooting a career-high 48.1 percent from the field and 53.5 percent from two-point range) but on Boston’s overall offensive numbers as well. The Celtics have leapfrogged six teams in offensive efficiency since Nov. 16, jumping up to 16th overall in conjunction with Irving’s masked hot streak. That improvement has helped counteract a notable drop off in the team’s stellar defense during the end of November. As we saw against the Sixers on Thursday night, the Celtics have become less reliant on their defense to win games. Irving’s shooting (and other offensive contributions) have done the trick.

Overall, the impressive run from Irving is a nice counterbalance to the rather average offense the point guard was playing on the whole for the first 15 games of the season. The Celtics won 13 of those games despite Irving’s up-and-down start. Now the former Cav is looking more and more at home in Stevens’ offense, even while wearing a mask, and it’s helping the C’s keep up their torrid pace in the standings.