The Mavericks held the Celtics to their lowest scoring total of the postseason after Luka Doncic had faced heavy criticism about his defense.
Kyrie Irving told Celtics fans he would return to Boston for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and he’s keeping his word.
As the guard walked off the TD Garden court following the Mavericks’ loss in Game 2, he opened his palm and put all five of fingers in the air to deliver the message.
And on Friday night, Irving helped the Mavericks stomp all over the Celtics’ bid for a sweep with a 122-84 blowout victory. The Celtics, up 3-1, host the Mavericks in Game 5 on Monday.
Irving said it took a while to adjust to the Celtics, who know his game well. He found it helpful to take a step back, talk with his teammates about the pressure, and lean on them to deliver.
He dished out a team-high six assists Friday night to go with 21 points.
“It’s not just me vs. Celtics or Luka [Doncic] vs. Celtics or anybody vs. the media,” Irving said. “It’s us against the world, sort of to say, going against this good Celtics team.
“You saw all those Celtics fans in there tonight. They travel in packs. When we go to Boston, there’s going to be a bunch of them yelling a whole bunch of crazy stuff still, but I think we’ve been able to grow and face kind of this adversity head on. We’re figuring out each other in a crazy way during the highest stage of basketball.
