Kyrie Irving told Mavs coach Jason “this is the hardest thing that I’ve ever gone through”after a Game 7 win over OKC to advance to the conference finals, despite winning a championship with the Cavs in 2016.
“He (Irving) actually said that to me, ‘this is the hardest thing that I’ve ever gone through,’ Kidd told reporters after Dallas’ 117-116 win on Sunday. “So I said, ‘is it? Well you did win a championship. It was easy?’ I said, ‘it’s cool. Actually this will be a great story to be able to tell your kids, how hard it really is to win.’ Nothing comes easy in life,” Kidd said. “I just told him to just put this up there with some of the hardest things you’re gonna have to grind through… Yes, he’s probably exhausted. Yes, he probably felt like he could have made a couple shots. But he did his part to help the team win on the defensive end and also accepted the double-teams.
“When you look at this series, yes he didn’t have the offensive explosion but he was the glue in this series. He kept everybody together, he kept everybody positive. Yes, it was the hardest thing but it only gets harder. And that’s what makes it fun for the great ones.”
Kyrie’s stats in the game weren’t exactly groundbreaking, since he finished the night with 22 points, two rebounds and three assists in 42 minutes.
But Irving’s presence on the court went beyond stats and he found a way to contribute significantly to the team’s hard-fought win.
Amazingly, Irving is now 14-0 in close out games as he enters another conference finals appearance.
The win with his Dallas teammates clearly meant a lot to Kyrie, as he expressed it to them postgame in the locker room while holding his daughter in one arm.
“Y’all gonna make me cry man, don’t do that,” Irving told his teammates, via ESPN. “I just want to thank each one of you guys man. All your sacrifices, all the things that you guys are doing when nobody is watching. I truly appreciate it. All the words of affirmation go a long way, man. Keep the positivity going, job is not finished. But we can definitely celebrate this one.”
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