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BOSTON — On the long walk down the hallway from the visitors’ locker room to his postgame news conference Thursday night, Kyrie Irving carried a basketball, dribbling occasionally. When someone offered to hold it as he took the podium, the Dallas Mavericks guard said, “l need it. I didn’t shoot particularly well tonight.”
In his homecoming to Boston, where he spent two distressed seasons, Irving logged 12 points on 19 shots and two assists against three turnovers in a 107-89 loss in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Met with boos and chants of “Kyrie sucks!” he missed all five of his 3-point attempts. When he sat for good 37 minutes into his night, cameras capturing his frustration on the bench, Irving finishing with a game-worst minus-19 on the night.
“Being in this environment, I’m used to it at this point,” said Irving, who stomped on Boston’s mascot at midcourt and flipped the bird to fans in previous playoff trips to TD Garden. “Early in my career, I had a different relationship with Boston. … Now I’m here as a veteran. Over the past few years, experiencing the playoffs here, even regular season, it’s been the same thing. I thought it was going to be a little louder in here, but I’m expecting the same things going into Game 2, crowd trying to get me out of my element.”
Kyrie Irving heads to the bench during the first half of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Irving’s co-star, Luka Dončić, scored 30 points on 26 shots, but the two combined for just three assists. The Mavericks totaled nine — five fewer than their season low — on 35 made field goals. Boston played both stars one-on-one, funneling them to help in the paint and staying home on shooters. The Celtics blocked as many shots as Dallas assisted, and the Mavs managed just two corner 3-point attempts, missing both.
“Even as I say that — ‘they are relying on the one-on-one’ — every time I got an iso, there’s almost two, three people waiting for me to get in there,” Irving said. “I have to catch the ball on a live dribble and be aware of my opportunities. It’s uncharacteristic for us to have nine…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-nba-finals-kyrie-irving-needs-to-perform-like-a-superstar-for-the-mavs-to-have-a-chance-131539635.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-06-07 13:15:39
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