The Mavs are in a precarious position! Game 2 of the NBA Finals held at TD Garden saw the franchise once again coming up short and losing- 105-98. While star player Luka Doncic maintained his impressive average, Kyrie Irving again put up a disappointing total. For someone who was averaging 27 points in the Conference Finals, the 32-year-old has scored 12 and 16 points, respectively, in the last two games. They’re now holding on to a 0-2 record and Skipp Bayless among many no longer hesitates to blame the necessary names.

Before the conclusion of Game 2, the controversial ‘Undisputed’ host made his disappointment explicitly known by sending out a tweet to his 3.2 million followers. “Kyrie has been … very disappointing,” he wrote on X. Not many chose to wait till the game was over before highlighting their reaction on social media. One of the most viewed ones is a shot at Kai. “Have some f**king shame,” a fan wrote. This individual emphasized if there was ever a need for Kyrie Irving to step up during the 4 quarter, then it was now.

Game 2 saw the shooting guard/point guard put up 16 points through his 7-18 field goals and 0-3 three-pointers. While his performance was not as bad as the one he delivered in the previous game, it was still not a fruitful output.

Fans demand Kyrie Irving to play well, one mockingly compares him to Harden!

Another individual made use of a ‘Kyrie Irving’ dancing meme to highlight how the player had allegedly been slacking off while Luka Doncic had put up an impressive triple-double and needed further help on the scoring side.

The clip highlighted by the social media user was taken back in 2007, during 15-year-old Kyrie Irving’s high school days. The aspiring player could be seen busting out some moves in the hallway, as his admirers off-camera kept cheering him on. 17 years later, the cheers have died down a bit due to the player’s performance, and his old performance is now being used to poke fun at him.

One fan urged Kyrie Irving that he needs to bring back the same offensive prowess that NBA fans once got a glimpse of many years ago. A glimpse of how he and his team were in a 3-1 predicament, but still managed to pull themselves up and emerge victorious.

This remark was a reference to 2016, back when Irving was a member of the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. After reaching the NBA Finals, the franchise was initially not successful in getting the better of the Golden State Warriors, who established a 3-1 record. One more win and the Championship trophy would have been of Stephen Curry’s. To everyone’s surprise, LeBron and Kyrie stepped up and dropped 41 points each in Game 5, creating history in the process. Their resilience continued until the Cavs reached a 4-3 win record, won the NBA Finals, and broke a superstition that had been plaguing Cleveland sports for over 52 years.

Another user chose to hit two birds with one stone. Along with making his disappointment in Kyrie Irving known, he also attacked LA Clippers star James Harden for being more or less “useless” than the Mavericks star.

Despite his reputation as one of the greatest shooting guards of all time, James Harden is not a universally beloved individual. It didn’t help the fact that his first season with the Clippers saw his average score drop. As Dallas Mavericks analyst Brian Dameris clearly stated back in November 2023, “Hey James, you’re the problem! If this doesn’t work this year in this system with this team, you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else …. and there’s not going to be anybody left”.

While others highlighted their criticism of Kyrie, one individual chose to defend the current circumstances. By stating that people in the comments section were “overreacting”, he said that things will improve for Dallas once they start playing again on the home court. He expressed his belief that Irving needs to improve his game a bit, but major improvement needs to come from Dereck Lively II.

The Mavericks currently have a 6-4 record when playing in the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Therefore, being back at home and facing the cheers of their own crowd can give the franchise the morale boost they need in abundance. At the same time, an improvement from Dereck Lively II, who only dropped a combined 4 points during the last two games, is a must!

Overall, the majority of the reactions were critical towards Kyrie Irving. While not all hope is lost for the Dallas Mavericks yet, they will certainly need to pull off a miracle if they wish to hold the Larry O’Brien trophy by the end of the month.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about WNBA star rookies Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.