Kyrie Irving opened his heart out after a comeback win at the American Airlines Center. The Mavs star had nothing but wisdom to share. The veteran guard faced a lot of heat in the first two games, as the boisterous TD Garden crowd was troubling him with “Kyrie sucks” chants. And it ultimately affected his performance. However, in the next two games at Texas, the 8x All-Star found his rhythm back and dropped an important piece of advice.
During the post-game interview for NBA TV, Charles Barkley asked how irritating it is for the players to deal with outside noise. Irving responded, “Yeah, it can be frustrating… I have a healthy relationship with social media (sarcasm)… Yesterday I was just telling the guys as best I can, ‘just stay off social media’. It’s not okay to just let other people’s opinions get into our locker room”.
“And I felt like in my past, I’ve allowed that to happen and that leads to those second thoughts…You want to play free, you want to play composed.” Even though Kyrie Irving opted to stay away from social media, he couldn’t stay away from the noise. Especially after offending the Celtics’ fans, the star has been struggling to make it work in Boston. Nevertheless, Uncle Drew can’t do anything to control it. The only thing that he can control is the opinions coming from critics and fans through various media sources.
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Notably, Charles Barkley himself went after the star in the postseason. Amid the Western Conference Finals, Chuck had a meltdown and made harsh comments on Irving over his political stance. However, the fans immediately shut down the legend on social media.
Irving indeed seemed to have stayed away from media, as he spoke to Chuck unfazed by the previous criticism.
Will Kyrie Irving break the jinx in Game 5?
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Every Mavs fan will remember the visual of Kyrie showing 5 fingers, highlighting Game 5, to the Boston crowd. And the time has finally arrived. While it looked like the Celtics would sweep the series, the Mavs resisted by forcing the fifth game. Now they’ve to do the unthinkable, breaking Kai’s curse to stay alive in the series.
Ever since Irving stomped on the Celtics logo at TD Garden in 2021, the star has lost 12 games, including this Finals’ first two games. It has nothing to do with the curse but with the crowd. Right from when Kyrie enters the court, they are all behind him in unison. Whenever he gets possession of the ball, the crowd breaks into yelling “Kyrie sucks”. It has ultimately affected his performance, as he went 0-8 from the arc in the first two games, shooting at 34.5% FG.
This isn’t a new hobby for the Celts crowd. During the 2022 Finals, they went after Draymond Green. But it didn’t have much effect as Steph and Klay took care of the offense. But, on this occasion, it’s directly affecting the game’s result. As Irving mentioned, he should eliminate the outside noise and not let it affect his game. Will he break the jinx in Game 5? Let us know in the comments below.
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Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, this video