As he entered the media room after the Mavericks’ Game 1 loss to the Celtics, one of his worst playoff performances in recent years, Kyrie Irving kept things light. He dribbled a basketball into the press conference and feigned like he was going to hand it to a media staffer before keeping hold of it, joking: “I need [the ball] right now. Didn’t shoot particularly well tonight.”
“Man, this is the best time of the year to be playing,” Irving said after Dallas fell, 107-89, to open the NBA Finals. “There’s two teams left, let’s put it in perspective.