Kyrie Irving’s second NBA title will have to wait.
Back in his first NBA Finals trip in seven years, Irving could not make it past his former team. But the veteran guard is confident in the Dallas Mavericks’ future.
“We answered a lot of questions this year of what we were capable of doing, and now it's just about being consistent,” Irving spoke in the aftermath of the Mavericks 106-88 Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics that promptly ended their season in five games.
“I see an opportunity for us to really build our future in a positive manner where this is almost like a regular thing for us, and we’re competing for championships,” he added
Irving had just 15 points on rough 5-of-16 shooting as the Mavs struggled on both ends en route to a lopsided defeat. He was held under 20 points in three of the five games and shot just 27.6 percent from 3-point range.
After getting pulled from Boston’s Game 5 clincher with a little over two minutes to go in regulation, the Dallas superstar gave his flowers to the Celtics, sharing hugs with head coach Joe Mazzulla and every Cs player before walking back to the Dallas bench.
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Kyrie showing respect to the Celtics as he checks out of Game 5 💯 pic.twitter.com/c4uyqMcFVa
— NBA (@NBA) June 18, 2024
"Yeah, it was emotional anyway. I mean, every series was emotional, just because I was just uncertain on how it was going to go and how we were going to respond to a little bit of adversity," Irving shared.
"We finally ran into a team where they beat us fair and square, and we weren't able to respond to a lot of their runs and we weren't able to execute at a high level. So when I was shaking everybody's hands, that was more of a sign of respect for their journey.”
Back in the biggest stage of the NBA Finals, Kyrie shared some key takeaways in a loss, while giving flowers to his former team.
“I think we learned more than anything from this series on what it takes to not only get back to this level but win at this level,” the 2016 NBA champion bared.
“The Celtics are the perfect example for us this season because of how much they have had to deal with in the past few years.”
In his first full season with superstar teammate Luka Doncic, Irving developed into one of the vocal leaders of the team, helping the Mavericks to a surprising playoff run that saw them take down West no.1 seed OKC Thunder in the semifinals and beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
"From a spiritual standpoint, I think I enjoyed this journey more than any other season, just because of the redemption arc and being able to learn as much as I did about myself and my teammates and the organization and the people that I'm around."
The former Duke Blue Devil finished his second season in Dallas with averages of 25.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.3 steals in 58 games.
In addition to the Mavs, he has also spent time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets, and Boston Celtics over 13 seasons in the league.
Irving remains confident that the Mavericks are already looking ahead of the next season as early as now.
“I think I could tell you I’m pretty confident that we’ll be back in the gym pretty soon and getting ready for next year.”
