Stephen A. Smith and Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo Get Into Fiery Debate on Whether Kyrie Irving is an ‘Immortal’: ‘This Ain’t Marvel Comics!’

Stephen A. Smith and Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo unleashed on each other over Kyrie Irving’s immortality in the NBA after his 60-point outburst Tuesday night. The exchange took place to open Wednesday’s edition of First Take where Russo argued Irving is nowhere near the level of NBA greats like Oscar Robertson or Magic Johnson.

“Scoring 60 points against the Orlando Magic, and he’s great, we all know he’s great,” Russo stated. “You want to put him in the top 75 or Stevie [A. Smith] wants to put him at number 74, we can put him at 74. But to put him in that Magic, Oscar, [Jerry] West, [Michael] Jordan, you know, to put him on that level, [Bob] Cousy who changed the game, to put him on that level is outlandish.”

“Oh will you stop it already with your dribble,” Smith rebutted with a smirk. He added, “This ain’t Marvel comics! You and your immortal status. Who are you going to mention next, Thor, Hulk?!”

Smith then cited the 2016 NBA finals where Irving hit the game-winning shot over the Golden State Warriors as a prime example of his greatness.

“I will remind you that the final that they actually lost when Kyrie was healthy, Kyrie averaged 29 that series. The one that they won the chip, he averaged 27 in the finals. He’s got a spectacular moment against Steph Curry to close the deal and deliver the city of Cleveland, it’s first championship, in any sport, in more than a half century so let’s stop with the nonsense.”

Smith doubled down on his argument by comparing Irving to West who both share one NBA championship each but the latter has more career losses in the NBA finals.

“You either that dude or you’re not,” Smith started, clarifying his stance. “As a talent, I put Kyrie with any guard in NBA history.”

Irving scored 60 points in Tuesday’s win over the Orlando Magic with 41 of them coming in the first half, a Nets franchise record for points in a single game. Irving is eligible to play in three of the Nets’ final 13 games due to New York’s private sector mandate.

Watch above via ESPN