The Dallas Mavericks have seemingly been the underdog in every round they've been in for the entirety of their 2024 NBA playoffs run. This remains the case as they head into the NBA Finals to square off against the Boston Celtics. The Celtics will give the Mavericks their biggest challenge yet, and in Game 1, Boston stamped their class with a 107-89 victory.

The Mavs looked flat for the majority of the game as they were unable to hang with the Celtics to end the first and third quarters, allowing them to go on huge runs to virtually seal the ballgame. One of the main culprits behind the Mavericks' lifeless performance was Kyrie Irving, an esteemed playoff performer who did not perform up to par in Game 1. He finished with 12 points on 6-19 shooting from the field, which simply won't cut it against a much-deeper Celtics squad.

Nonetheless, Irving remains unfazed; after all, only one game has passed in the series, and the Mavericks still have a lot of time to figure it out. But the Mavs star knows how much fans tend to overreact after a playoff loss. Thus, he took to Twitter (X) to comfort fans with a powerful message that outlines the difficulty of the task they have at hand.

“Tribe, Keep GOD 1st and stay together, this mission is bigger than us. Hélà🤞🏾🪶♾❤️,” Irving wrote on his official Twitter (X) account.

To the uninitiated, Kyrie Irving has been embracing his Native American roots with open arms. Irving's late mother, Elizabeth, was born into the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and the Mavericks star has continued to honor her by adopting the Lakotan name the tribe has bestowed upon him, “Little Mountain”, which translates to “Hela” in their native language.

Irving is remaining focused on the task at hand, as he has been in this position before. He has faced a deficit in the NBA Finals in the past, and he was a prominent part of the Cleveland Cavaliers team that pulled off the greatest comeback in Finals history eight years ago. There may be plenty of concern surrounding the Mavericks after they struggled in Game 1 against the Celtics, but they have an experienced hand in Irving to help them navigate this kind of adversity.

Kyrie Irving gets clamped by the Celtics

The Mavericks' winning formula in the playoffs has been to let Luka Doncic cook for the first few quarters and let Kyrie Irving take over late in games. This opportunity was not available to them in Game 1, however. Irving was way out of rhythm throughout the entire game, and there was no way Dallas was going to win with him struggling the way he did, especially when the team's role players didn't do much as well.

Credit must go to Jrue Holiday and the rest of the Celtics' defense as they were responsible for slowing down Irving, one of the most unstoppable scorers in the game when he has it going. The Celtics stuck to him like glue and forced him into a ton of contested shots from midrange. And whenever Irving managed to get into the paint, he was met by Boston's rim protectors, which, in a bit of a surprise, was led by Jaylen Brown who had three monster blocks on the night.

Kyrie Irving has to put in a much more concerted effort to go to the free-throw line. He failed to get to the charity stripe a single time in Game 1; the great scorers in the game find a way to put up points on the board even when the shot is not falling, and the free-throw line provides that reprieve. In Game 2, the Mavericks star has to find a way to draw more contact in addition to all the acrobatics he loves going to whenever he has an opportunity to finish at the rim.

Mavericks star's track record suggests a bounce-back

Kyrie Irving, for as great of a reputation as he has for performing in the playoffs, is not infallible. The Mavericks star has had a few stinkers in this postseason alone, but he always finds a way to get back on track.

In Game 2 of the Mavs' series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Irving scored just nine points on 2-8 shooting from the field. Irving came back with a 22-point night on 10-17 shooting the following game.

In Game 4 of the Mavericks' Western Conference Finals matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Irving struggled to the tune of 6-18 shooting from the field as he finished with 16 points in a five-point loss – the only closeout game defeat of his career thus far. He then redeemed himself by scoring 36 points on 14-27 shooting in Game 5 to book a ticket to the NBA Finals.

Expect Irving to be better in Game 2 against the Celtics as he looks to make a very hostile TD Garden crowd eat their words.