And so ends a rough return to Boston for Kyrie Irving, who through a smattering of boos, and with another awful shooting night to his name in the finale, left the floor in the final minutes of a title-clinching defeat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals Monday night. Irving knew the reception he’d receive in Boston, five years after he bolted for Brooklyn in acrimonious fashion, and the booing never subsided. He didn’t exactly answer it with his play: he was awful through the first two games of the series, averaging 14 points on a combined 13 of 37 from the field.
He broke out of that slump with 35 points in another defeat in Game 3, and added a solid 21 points as the Mavericks dominated Game 4. Then it all came crashing back down Monday night, as Irving shot a paltry 5 of 16 as Boston put Dallas away. “Failing at this stage definitely sucks,” Irving said.
“It’s a bitter feeling. Advertisement “Basketball is a game of centimeters, man. When the ball’s flying out of your hand, sometimes it’s going to feel good, sometimes it isn’t, and that’s the maturity aspect, you have to be able to move onto the next thing.
It was a strange 10 days or so for Irving, who oscillated between accepting responsibility for his seemingly irreparable relationship with Boston and taking the occasional snipe at the city and its fanbase. In the end, the booing and “Kyrie Sucks!” chants only hit a fever pitch in Game 5, making clear that there are no hatchets buried between Boston and.
