Mavericks Ready To Rally Around Kyrie Irving In Hostile NBA Finals Setting

BOSTON — Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving will be walking into a raucous and hostile environment when the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics begin Thursday night at TD Garden.

But Irving, who is public enemy No. 1 of the Boston fan base, won’t be making that trip alone, though.

Irving’s Mavericks teammates are ready to support him and band together to defeat a common enemy in the Celtics.

“We already know what to expect,” Mavericks starting forward Derrick Jones Jr said Wednesday during NBA Finals media day. “We’ve all seen the videos of the chants that they say toward Kyrie. It’s not something that’s new. It’s not like we’ve (haven’t) seen it before we became teammates. We already know what to expect. We’ve got his back through thick and thin, whatever it is. I’m always there for him. I’m always there to talk to him whenever he needs me, just like everybody else is on this team. Kyrie ain’t never going through anything alone.”

While Celtics fans will try to get under Irving’s skin at every moment, the Mavericks are looking to keep their cool in what Luka Doncic admitted is a tough place to play. The fans relentlessly getting on Irving could actually end up galvanizing the Mavericks.

“I feel like the more hostile the environment is, the more closer we get as a team, able to lean on one another,” Dereck Lively II said. “Whenever there is a sea of green, we’re going to lean on our brothers in blue.”

Irving earlier this week spoke with some regret about his immature actions in previous trips to Boston. In a 2022 first-round series while Irving was with the Brooklyn Nets, he flipped off the crowd and mocked them.

But Irving is doing his best to be unfazed by it all this time around. The Mavericks certainly need the 32-year-old guard on top of his game and not playing into any distractions with Irving averaging 22.8 points and shooting 42.1% from 3-point range in the postseason.

“I think Ky is going to play the game the way he knows he’s supposed to play the game,” Jones said. “It’s the NBA Finals, it’s the biggest stage. He’s been here before. He’s performed at a high level on this stage before. We know what Ky’s capable of and we expect that from him.”

The Mavericks are ready for the crowd inside TD Garden to be screaming venom at Irving. But their goal is to try to turn that cacophony into utter silence.

“I’m always looking forward to a loud crowd,” Jones said. “Whenever you get the crowd to be quiet, it’s probably one of the best feelings in the NBA, especially on the road, playoffs, in the NBA Finals.”