BOSTON – Before a Dec. 18, 2020 preseason game, in his first appearance in TD Garden since bolting from the Celtics to Brooklyn in free agency, Kyrie Irving walked the perimeter of the court, burning sage.
He explained that it was a native ritual to “cleanse the energy.” He never specified what energy needed purifying, but clearly it didn’t work.
Three-plus years later Irving is 0-7 in TD Garden as an ex-Celtic, including 0-2 in these NBA Finals. With a 3-1 series deficit and facing elimination Monday night, it’s imperative for Dallas that Irving conquer his TD Garden demons.
He doesn’t have to destroy them. Or silence them. But he does need to tamp them down for the Mavericks to have any chance to make history as the first NBA team to overcome a 3-0 series deficit.
Perhaps Irving took a step toward catharsis Sunday by openly acknowledging his conundrum.
“Let’s just call it what it is,” he said. “When the fans are cheering, “Kyrie sucks,” they feel like they have a psychological edge. And that’s fair. Of course, if I’m not making shots or turning the ball over, that makes it even more of a pressing issue that they can stay on me for.
“I think in order to silence let alone the crowd doubt, but the self-doubt when you make or miss shots, that’s just as important as making sure I’m leading the team the right way and being human through this experience, too.”
It was refreshingly candid self-analysis from a professional athlete, but not surprising in Irving’s case if you’ve listened to his introspective interviews during his 16 months as a Maverick.
Acknowledgment is one thing, though. Overcoming is another.
Irving was loose and smiling, seemingly unbothered and unburdened, during Sunday’s practice in TD Garden. A stark contrast to his demeanor as he walked off the same court seven nights earlier, after Game 2 of the finals.
Irving in Games 1 and 2, both Dallas losses, averaged 14.0 points, 4.0 assists, 2.5 turnovers and 35.1% shooting. He was a combined 0-for-8 on 3-pointers in those games.
It was a continuation of his struggles against the Celtics, physically and psychologically, since bolting Boston for Brooklyn in the summer of 2019.
And when the Mavericks also lost Game 3 of the finals in Dallas, it dropped Irving’s overall record against Boston as an ex-Celtic to 1-13.
Perhaps Irving’s 21-point, six-assist performance in the Mavericks’ 38-point Game 4 rout helped exorcise some of his Celtics demons.
But of course, TD Garden and the reception Irving gets from Celtics fans, booing him every time he touches the basketball, are another matter.
At age 32, though, this isn’t the same Irving who in 2021 stomped on the TD Garden center-court logo and during the 2022 playoffs made an obscene gesture toward heckling Celtics fans.
This more mature and introspective Irving says he understands the mistakes he made after getting traded from Cleveland to Boston in 2017.
He said Sunday that he should have embraced the Celtics tradition, which has helped propel the franchise to a record-tying 17 championships. Irving said that in hindsight he wishes he had sought counsel of Celtics legends to better understand and embrace the pressure to win in Boston.
“You have to show your respect here,” he said. “I think that’s what I struggled with initially, figuring out how I’m going to be a great player here while winning championships and also leading a team and selflessly joining the Celtics’ organization, or the cult that they have here.
“That’s what they expect you to do as a player. They expect you to seamlessly buy into the Celtics’ pride, buy into everything Celtics. And if you don’t, then you’ll be outed.
“I’m one of the people that’s on the outs.”
Irving laughed after that comment, as did many among the roomful of journalists.
“I’m perfectly fine with that, you know what I mean?” Irving added. “I did it to myself.”
That kind of admission might be more cleansing, for Irving thought probably not Celtics fans than any amount of smoldering sage.
The Mavericks certainly need a better Irving than the one we saw in Games 1 and 2. Yes, Luka Doncic bounced back with a big Game 4. Yes, rookie Dereck Lively II and other Mavericks bench players finally showed up to the finals, playing as they had for most of the playoffs.
Dallas, though, can’t afford to have 14-point, five-assist, 35%-shooting Irving to show up at TD Garden for Game 5. Especially if the game is close, they’ll need both Clutch Kyrie and Clutch Luka.
“I’m not speaking for him, but just from experience, just as an athlete, you want to get another opportunity, and he has that opportunity here tomorrow night,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said.
“Hopefully he can take full advantage of that. Make some adjustments and look back at Game 1 and 2 and see what they were doing to him defensively and hopefully take advantage in Game 5.”
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