Kyrie Irving earned a ton of praise ahead of the NBA Finals for helping Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks get to this point.
Understandably so, mind you. Doncic had never been past the Western Conference Finals prior to this.
Unfortunately, in the NBA Finals, Irving hasn’t delivered. In Game 1 he put up 12 points on 19 shots. In Game 2 it was 16 points on 18 shots. Dallas lost both outings.
Following Game 2, Irving got brutally honest about the frustrating run he has had in the NBA Finals thus far.
“A little disappointed in myself not being able to convert a lot more of the opportunities I have in the lane,” Irving said.
“Obviously I’m going against Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown a few times but I feel like I have the upper edge on certain possessions, I just gotta convert.”
McKayla Maroney Posts First Pictures Of Herself After 1 Year Off Social Media https://t.co/uLB0Aq8Aqm
— Game 7 (@game7__) June 11, 2024
That said, Irving firmly believes he can get some licks back when the series goes to Dallas.
“We wanna take advantage of playing in front of our home crowd,” he said.
“Feeling confident and being able to play in a familiar place. They handled what they were supposed to do in the first two games, now it’s our job to go home and handle our business.
“You’ve got to give them credit, they kept competing, we keep competing. We just need to stick together during the tough times of the game… We just gotta keep competing.”
Will Irving be able to get his old swagger back and help the Mavericks make a legitimate series out of this thing once he is playing on his own homecourt in Dallas? Time will tell.
Related: Luka Doncic’s Mom, Grandma Wore Special Outfits To NBA Finals
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.