Kyrie Irving was asked about the recent slump championship hopefuls like the Houston Rockets and now the Golden State Warriors have hit early in the season, doling out an interesting response.

“I think it's just not a lot of defense being played,” said Kyrie Irving. “Teams are scoring like it's the 1960s or '70s. It's 132-112, 142-121. There's no defense. You go into a Utah-Boston game and it's 86-92, you see the difference in the effort every single night.

“I get it from an NBA player standpoint, the amount of games that we play, but sometimes you have to make guys miss. We're all NBA players, if you see an open look at the rim, I'm pretty sure we're gonna knock it down over 50 percent of the time if it's wide open. There's no defense and just [no] effort. It's really what it comes down to — nobody should be scoring that many points.”

Asked of recent performances when Klay Thompson broke the NBA record for 3-pointers made in a game, totaling 54 points, and most recently LeBron James hanging up 51 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' latest win, Kyrie Irving attributed it to the collective lack of emphasis on defense and not double-teaming when a player is getting hot.

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The NBA has changed over time and has now morphed to a primarily offensive league with everyone capable of shooting and making 3-point shots, but along with it has been the disregard for defense.

The 3-and-D mold has become popular, but 30 years ago, defense was already a prerequisite of being an NBA player altogether — whereas now, it has become a relative delicacy to have on an NBA roster.

It's worthy to note that Kyrie Irving has been known as a poor defender his entire career until he joined the Celtics and started buying into Brad Stevens' philosophy, now becoming an average one at best.