Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks have not had the start to the 2024 NBA Finals that they were hoping for, as the team currently finds themselves down two games to zero against the Boston Celtics as the series shifts to Dallas. Much was made of Irving's history with the Celtics coming into the series and the fact that the star had lost ten straight games to his old team dating back to 2021, and that number has now increased to twelve straight with the Mavericks on the verge of an 0-3 hole.
Although he was incredible in the Mavericks' win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, Irving has looked like a shell of himself so far against the Celtics, bringing back memories of the 2022 series between the Celtics and Irving's Brooklyn Nets that saw the guard struggle mightily en route to a sweep.
Recently, NBA insider and sports media personality Stephen A. Smith took to ESPN's First Take to issue a major challenge to Irving ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday.
“The reality is that if Kyrie doesn't step up and remind the world about his greatness and about the fact that is a champion and he's one of the greatest talents to ever play this game, if he doesn't show up and play like it, the Dallas Mavericks are going to get swept,” said Smith, via First Take on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “They are on the verge of a sweep. I don't believe that's going to happen. I still see this being a series, because the reason I picked the Mavs to win this series is because I thought that (Kristaps) Porzingis' health would be compromised… Dallas cannot lose this game.”
Can Kyrie bounce back?
If there's any player in the NBA who knows how to bounce back from a rough couple of games to open up a series, it's Kyrie Irving. In 2016, Irving struggled mightily in Games 1 and 2 on the road vs the Golden State Warriors before flipping a switch and thoroughly outplaying Warriors unanimous MVP Stephen Cury for the final five games of the series, including hitting the game winning shot in Game 7 over Curry to win the championship for the Cavaliers.
While that was eight years ago, and this season is the first real playoff success that Irving has experienced without LeBron James by his side, he's still undoubtedly one of the best pure bucket getters in the NBA, even when the Celtics throw their all-defensive backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White in his direction.
Still, it has to be at least considered at this point whether or not Irving truly does have a mental block against his former team. As previously noted, the star has lost twelve straight games to the Celtics since beating them in Game 5 of the 2021 playoffs with the Nets, and his efficiency numbers and overall impact have continued to plummet as time has gone on.
Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday evening at 8:30 PM ET.
Follow Us
Subscribe