Despite all the success that followed them during the course of the regular season and the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks roster faltered at the very last stage. By allowing the Boston Celtics to record a 4-1 win record against them, the franchise failed to secure the championship title even after a 12-year hiatus. Due to this, the NBA world is now trying to find a scapegoat to pin the blame. While lead scorer Luka Doncic delivered some of his best performances during the finals series, the same could not have been said about his second-in-command Kyrie Irving. Therefore, fans didn’t have to search for their patsy thoroughly.

Sometime after the conclusion of Game 5, a fan took to his official X account to make his disdain for Kyrie Irving known. He highlighted that in the aftermath of his abysmal performance, people should now refrain from comparing the player with the likes of Chris Paul and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry. Furthermore, he highlighted his belief that the events of the last few days have certainly caused Irving to lose his position amongst the “Top 5 guard” of all time.

In the five games that the Dallas Mavericks had played against the Celtics, Kyrie Irving had put up an average score of 19.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists. This was a drastic drop from the average score the player had secured during the Conference Finals and the first round of the playoffs. Furthermore, he dropped only 15 points during Game 5, his second lowest score in the Mavericks’ last 10 matchups.

Fans react as Kyrie Irving fails to shine during the NBA Finals

The above-mentioned tweet was just one example. Within a few minutes after the same was put up, X quickly filled up with many NBA enthusiasts carrying a torch against the 32-year-old. One of them followed the same path as the previous commentor by stating that Stephen Curry is on another level, and therefore should not be used as a comparison scale for Kyrie Irving.

The Warriors star is four years older than his Mavericks rival. However, by Irving’s age, he had already secured enough accolades to his name to have himself be regarded amongst the greatest players of the modern NBA. By the time Stephen Curry’s 32 birthday took place, he had already secured three championship trophies, two MVP titles and 6 All-Star Team selections to his name. By next year, he had accumulated 2,974 three pointers to break the ‘All-Time 3 Point Record’ previously held by Ray Allen.

The Curry-Irving comparison continued when another commentor ‘highlighted’ the finals record held by the two individuals. He stated his belief that while Stephen Curry’s best finals stat remains at 4-2, Kyrie Irving occupies a low rank with his 1–4 win record.

Unfortunately, what the commentor highlighted is not fully accurate. Back in 2016, Kyrie Irving was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers roster that delivered the franchise’s first ever championship title. Through Irving’s contribution and the leadership skills of LeBron James, the Cavaliers had established a 4-3 record to defeat the Golden State Warriors, the same franchise which ironically was being led by Stephen Curry.

One NBA enthusiast took to Statmuse to find the Finals Stats between Curry and Irving. Highlighting the screenshots on his tweet, he revealed the big gap between both point guard’s scoring abilities. Therefore, he asked his fellow peers to stop hyping up an individual who can just “dribble nice”.

In the six NBA Finals series that Stephen Curry has appeared in, he has averaged over 27.3 points per game. At the same time, however, Kyrie Irving’s four series appearances have seen him average 25.5 points. Therefore, while the Mavericks star’s stat is still low, the gap between his and Curry’s average isn’t that big.

Overall, the reactions were drastically negative towards Kyrie Irving. By making their opinions heard, the majority of individuals made it clear that Kyrie Irving is yet to reach the threshold established by Stephen Curry.

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.