MIAMI – When Kyrie Irving hit the button to start celebrating the Dallas Mavericks winning 50 games and capturing the Southwest Division title all in the same night, he harkened back to last season when he and his teammates failed to make the NBA play-in tournament.
In doing a deep five of last season’s missteps, Irving wrapped up this season’s success in a tiny bow by explaining that this walk to the postseason is both personal and very meaningful to him.
“That was the first time I had dealt with failure at that type of level – at least at my age being 30 and being in the prime of my career,” Irving said.