In Game 4, the Dallas Mavericks made a dramatic comeback. They played with great energy on both ends of the court despite being down 3-0 and in danger of losing to the Boston Celtics. They won 122-84, setting up one of the largest blowouts in NBA Finals history. It was also Kyrie Irving’s second outstanding performance.
Kyrie Irving must play well for the Dallas Mavericks to have a chance to win this series. He has played well the last two games, and his ability to play third will be crucial to avoiding elimination for at least one more.
Now that the series is returning to TD Garden for Game 5, the Boston Celtics are under intense pressure. They do not want to return to Dallas for Game 6, which would give the Mavericks complete control of the series.
For his team to have a chance, Kyrie Irving needs to perform better than he did in Boston during Games 1 and 2. For the first two games, he only scored 14 points a night on average while shooting 35.1 percent from the field and missing all eight of his 3-point shots.
Kyrie Irving and the city of Boston have a difficult connection. Considering how badly his time with the Dallas Mavericks went, he is the team’s biggest public nemesis. He understands exactly what he needs to do to calm them down as he enters hostile area.
Irving remarked, “Let’s just call it what it is.” “It’s reasonable that fans who are yelling, “Kyrie sucks,” feel as though they have the upper hand psychologically. Naturally, it becomes even more urgent for them to focus on me if I’m not making shots or giving the ball over.
“I believe that leading the team in the right way, being a human throughout this experience, and communicating my feelings to them are just as important as silencing even my own self-doubt, let alone the doubt of the crowd.”