Kyrie Irving was a VIRTUAL NO-SHOW 😳 – Stephen A. reacts to Celtics-Mavericks Game 1 | First Take

Kyrie Irving was a VIRTUAL NO-SHOW 😳 – Stephen A. reacts to Celtics-Mavericks Game 1 | First Take

was game one’s blowout loss a bad sign or a bad game for the Maverick um it was a bad game for the Mavericks um I I think you know when you think about all the new faces that they have on their team fors being their first time in the NBA Finals look if you never been to the NBA finals or experien experienced it as a player it’s a it’s a different type of atmosphere and if you’re not prepared for it you could get punched in the mouth and we saw the Celtics do that last night think about who’s on the Celtics roster Al Horford he’s been to the finals Jason Tatum and jayen brown both been to the finals Drew holiday is a champion they know what it feels like they know what it take you know you’re dealing with so many outside distractions but I will say this Molly before the series started I said Chris porzingis is the most important player in this series and last night showed that but on top of that Jaylen brown jayen brown was the best player on the floor and this dude is on a damn mission right now ever since he got snug from being uh all NBA or he felt like he should have made the all NBA team he has taken his game to another level and I know we’ve been talking about Luca we’ve been talking about Tatum and Kyrie who’s going to be the best player in this series Jaylen Brown once again reminded us last night do not disrespect respect my name because I have the capability of being the best player in this series and the way that he dominated on both ends of the floor the passion the tenacity that he played with he didn’t have po popular plays he had powerful plays plays that made that was demoralizing for the Dallas maravi so look I got this series going in seven I got the Celtics winning in seven but I must say Dallas got to get they stuff together cuz what I saw last night from Jaylen Brown in particular and the mission that he’s on this seltic team is standing on business right now go ahead Andre go ahead yeah I’m gonna go with yeah go ahead UD go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead you we take it well I’m G say this perk I’m I’m agree with you a th% when the man walked in with the all black on dress like blade I knew he meant business but he’s an alpha he’s the alpha to me he to me there’s levels to alphas and he’s the alpha in that locker room yes Jason Tatum is an alpha but to me there’s levels to Alpha and I think he’s the alpha in that locker room soon as the game was over and they won he was the guy that said hey don’t get cute it’s only one game so he’s already setting the tone but for Dallas I think it is just one game but I would be concerned because they only had three guys in double figures and Luc was one with 30 so you talk about Kyrie Irving and how Unstoppable those guys have been Boston definitely figured something out with switching those pick and rolls everybody is staying at home and making him try to make shots oversiz when it was Al Horford and then on the other end of it they were attacking Luca on defense so Dallas had some things they need to figure out but it was only game one it doesn’t matter if you lose by 100 or you lose by one I expected Boston to come out and win game one I expected Dallas to be a little timid because that’s their first time being there I expect them to be better Boston struggle game two I expect the Dallas maravi to show up in game two and not just Dallas that look like the Dallas Cowboys my bad Stephen A hey I ain’t mad about it I Ain mad about it go ahead I I feel the same way I agree with and UD I think it was a bad game and we’ve also seen this from the Mavericks in game one they lost game one to the Clippers they lost game one to OKC I know those two teams are significantly different than the Boston Celtics especially with the way christops porzingis is playing which I did not expect I don’t know if anyone even Boston fans I don’t know if anyone expect kristofh porzingis to put up 20 points in 20 minutes with the efficiency that he did to move his feet on defense to slide to react to Sprint back and block a shot I don’t know if any of us were expecting that I’m still saying it’s a bad game for the Mavs and they’re going to respond we’ve seen them drop game one and still win the series twice so far in the playoffs my answer to this question ladies and gentlemen is both it was a bad game and a bad s let me tell you why I feel this way yeah it was a bad game by the Dallas Mavericks because Kyrie Irving was a virtual noow let’s get that out the way we expected better from him particularly in this game we didn’t get better and obviously you knew what Luca was going to do but you knew he was going to need assistance DJ Washington I expected more from him we didn’t get much from him okay Daniel Gafford looked small I don’t know why okay but he just looked small and then you look at Derek Jones obviously you expected him to have more of an impact two of non shooting but more importantly you expected him to have an impact defensively I didn’t see any of that yesterday so I wasn’t happy with what I saw from the Dallas Mavericks it was a bad game I get that here’s why I say both is applicable here I picked the Mavs you pick the Mavs UD pick the Mavs before this series began I heard perk say whoever’s coming out of the western conference is going to win the championship before ultimately you you you basically said yo it’s gonna go seven and Boston is gonna win this not knocking you for it perk I understand it I’m just highlighting it the reason why we had trepidation about the Boston Celtics for one reason and one reason only por Zas the H I didn’t think listen they were talking about how his injury was similar to what KD had when he was in the finals against Toronto well what happened he was out for a lengthy period of time he comes back for a quarter and a half and ultimately he tears his Achilles so I’m thinking about poor zingis who ain’t the greatest individual lateral movement to begin with I’m thinking about how he’s going to be attacked how they’re going to work out how they’re going to work his legs and test him or what have you but they were attacking him in a fashion that I thought was beneficial to him you can’t go into christs was zingis who’s 7’3 and think you’re going to elevate over him you got to get him moving laterally you got to get him moving those legs they weren’t doing that instead one person tries to dunk on them Derek Jones tries to make a reverse layup on him and and and and and Luke is going into the teeth of a defense like he’s supposed to but this is a 7 foot three shot blocker here and then you got smaller dudes you know that he’s posting up whether it’s from the free throw line or somewhere close to the free throw line and he’s shoving them aside it wasn’t just that he was shooting over them he was shoving them aside and so I’m looking at his strength and I’m saying what the hell is going on here and it kind of threw me off I don’t care about his 20 points I care about those 18 points in the first half I care about those two to three blocks he had in the first half he was so formidable I said damn we knew that if that porzingis was healthy and showed up nobody was having a chance against Boston this year what do you think was the biggest reason for the Mavericks blowout loss Boston crowd somebody got to say it so I’m G to say it I think when I think about Draymond Green for example I think about one of the most strong willed mentally individuals in the game today UD perk that’s how I view Draymond Green I bring up that name because if you recall he even confessed that his first couple of experiences in the finals against Boston he was rattled we want to look at Kyrie Irvin let me tell you something about I have a question so does that is the answer really Kyrie because Kyrie was the one that got rattled by Boston Crow no I’m saying I’m saying the answer is the Boston crowd because the Boston crowd rattled you said what’s the biggest reason saying was it really Kyrie because he allowed he allowed the crowd to Rattle right right I’m saying yeah the crowd rattled him and I’m and the reason why I bring that up is because we may have our differences with the kind of decisions that Kyrie has made over the years or whatever the case could be but what I’ve repeatedly stated about him fellas and Andrea is that he’s a good guy and he’s not a bad person so what happens is is that when you go and a crowd has venom for you like Boston has for him because he’s supposed to be in a Boston Celtics uniform he was supposed to be the one helping him there and he left and he went to Brooklyn and he engaged in the histrionics to stepping on the park for and the leprechaun and doing all of this stuff after he departed and everything like that you knew there was going to be vitrio aimed in his Direction and they clearly boot that’s all they did that’s all they did but they booed the living hell out of them now obviously that’s not the only thing the Boston Celtics who’ve got height at a multitude of positions particularly with porzingis in the middle you can’t just come into the lane and throw the floaters that Kyrie usually throws out there so you gonna have to bring something extra to your repertoire in order to offset what Boston’s bringing to you but I also think the environment played a role because we have to remind the audience Boston TD Bank Garden for a Celtics game is one of the best environments in all of sports they can be quieted as UD and the Miami Heat showed you in the past but when you roll up into Boston them Peeps are ready to support that team and they will distract you got to be strong mentally and your focus has to be elevated to offset the Venom and the hostility they throw in your direction because they are aiming to distract you to benefit their team and I thought last night Kyrie didn’t come as ready as we expected which I found a bit disappointing because you played there as a team as a member of their team and as a visitor you know better than most what that environment entailed he didn’t seem ready for the moment I don’t think that’ll happen again but he didn’t seem ready for the moment last night Dre do you feel like Kyrie was the biggest reason for the Mavs loss no I do not because because even if Kyrie was ready for the moment and played well say he played a little bit better he was more efficient he got into his bag a little bit more y the MAV still had no answer defensively for the Celtics they had none if we were doing a multiple choice quiz and we said all right are we going to get a Jaylen Brown Drive are going to get a christops mismatch are we going to get an offensive rebound or an extra pass three there would be an extra one at the bottom that said all the above the Celtics got everything they wanted on the offensive end they have too many weapons they have a ton of size they make the extra pass they got into the paint to kick out for threes I know they hit a lot of Threes but they took great threes wide open threes they made 16 seven guys hit two they made but they got great threes look at these this is off of a paint touch and an extra pass and nobody’s around Dereck white for that shot the defense for the Mavs they have to find a way because the Celtics did two things they sought out Luca and they found him and they attacked him and they played together on the offensive end so the Mavs defensively they have to figure out an answer for how they want to defend the cel especially with chrisop porzingis well look I’mma say yes I’mma say yes Kyrie was the biggest is the was the biggest reason why the Mavs lost last night because who has been the leader on this team it’s been Kyrie Irving we’ve been praising and giving him his flowers about his leadership and he’s earned that now it’s time for him to take his leadership to another level we’re talking about the biggest stage y’all we’re talking about them playing against one of the most historical franchises in sports in the Boston Celtics we know how Rowdy it could get in that Arena they’re going to call you everything but a child of God the only person that’s on that team that has final experience and Championship experience outside of their head coach J kid is Kyrie Kyrie knows this he knows that he has to be better right he knows that he needs to be more vocal it’s not about to make a Miss shots do I think Kyrie Irving is going to go 6 for 19 from the field again in game two I don’t he has some great looks but I didn’t see the Kyrie Irving that I’ve been seeing throughout this postseason I didn’t see the Kyrie Irving talking and communicating I didn’t see the Kyrie Irving pulling guys together doing a dead ball or doing free throws and saying hey look let’s get it together it was times throughout this postseason where I saw Kyrie Irving talking and communicating defensive coverages when he wasn’t even involved in it okay and when you’re talking about being on the road we go back to game five against the Minnesota timber wolves yes others played well but Luca and Kyrie Irving were the ones that took you home on the road your Superstars are going to take you home at home your role players step up Kyrie Irving was the was the biggest reason for that loss he knows it and he got to he got to elevate his leadership even more and at this point when you’re talking about being on this stage of the NBA fight go ahead UD I’m with you perk a th% Kyrie has to play better I think of it as an analogy where you got a bunch of kids that’s going on a on on a field trip in their shopping room you need your Sheron Kyrie has been the cheron through this field trip that these young boys have been going through through these finals Jason kid was speaking at halftime and during his speech he almost said we acting like we ain’t been here before then he caught himself and realized damn we ain’t been here before he’s been there before Kyrie has been there before but none of those guys have been there before [Music]

Kyrie Irving was a VIRTUAL NO-SHOW 😳 – Stephen A. reacts to Celtics-Mavericks Game 1 | First Take

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Udonis Haslem, Kendrick Perkins and Andraya Carter join Molly Qerim to recap the Boston Celtics’ win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals.

0:00 Bad game or bad sign?
4:07 Stephen A.’s thoughts
6:50 Impact of the Boston crowd
11:02 Kyrie’s struggles

#ESPN #NBA #FirstTake

✔️Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV