Kyrie Irving has not been away for the Celtics for over five years now after leaving Boston in free agency in the summer of 2019, yet it’s evident he still keeps close tabs on his former teammates. The All-Star guard had long embraces with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown after Boston’s dominant 122-107 win Saturday night at American Airlines Arena.
The NBA Finals rematch did not live up to its billing in part due to the absence of Luka Doncic. Irving had a team-high 22 points for the Mavericks but he couldn’t keep pace with a Celtics starting five that had all five players score 17 points or more for the first time all year.
Boston also turned the ball over just five times in the rout, leading to a superb offensive effort for the better part of the final three quarters. Irving was asked about Boston’s close to flawless play after the game and whether that was a sign they are just on a higher level than the Western Conference champions.
“Or they’ve lost a couple of games and Joe Mazzulla got into their a** a little bit and you get the result you got tonight,” Irving said. “Going against us, playing with a verve, playing with a confidence and taking care of the ball.
“They made adjustments and that’s what great teams do, especially when they are champions in the league. They handled our pressure, they adjusted to our zone coverage, they started getting open shots and it’s a pretty easy game from there.”
The Celtics victory came on the heels of an ugly loss to the Lakers on Thursday night but capped off a successful road trip for Boston at 3-1. Boston is 11-10 overall in their last 21 games but Irving diminished any criticism about the defending champions.
“I like math because it has no emotions,” Irving said of Boston’s heavy 3-point shooting strategy. “Outside of JT and JB, when those other guys get it going like D-White and Jrue Holiday, that’s what makes them special and makes them great. Everyone kind of criticizes them based on what their season is this year, but if you look at their first 42 games, it’s pretty similar compared to last year. Maybe two years off. This is a well coached basketball team.”
The Celtics pulled within 4.5 games of the Cavs for the No. 1 seed in the East after the victory and now head back to Boston for another tough test against Ime Udoka and the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
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