Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Reacts To Win vs. Nets, Brooklyn Return: Feb 6 2024

Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Reacts To Win vs. Nets, Brooklyn Return: Feb 6 2024

Could you Che us through that dunk that hurt around the world perfect pass man shout out to Josh Green perfect pass he had to belief in me a lot of my teammates didn’t uh think that I could catch lobs but told him to look at my summer highlights

Man no but it felt good to to get up there and uh convert that dunk and it’s not too often you see me dunk so I’m grateful that I got a highlight here man so good you called for it specifically absolutely come on now throw it throw it

Now we talked about a few possessions before we saw how they were guarding there so just one of those adjustment plays and then Josh actually gave me that kind of head now he said yo go go for the L I’m going to throw it to you

So I’m glad we can convert that I’m pretty sure you heard the crowd did you kind of feed up what you the noise that you heard from the crowd tonight yeah yeah just like any other basketball game um but it felt like being back it felt

Like I was home tonight um you know getting here early warming up uh just getting a good sense of the the rims and the atmosphere what it was going to be like and just mentally preparing myself um for the game and um just just letting uh game come to me and allowing uh

Basketball guys to do the rest um just try to get as much sleep yesterday and come in with a open heart open mind to see a lot of my friends and family that I’ve made here and uh put on a great show for you said Kyrie that you don’t

Need the out the popet circumstance in these kind of games and you come back but for you personally after spending a few years here what did you sort of think about what do you think about when you think about your time with the Nets um I don’t think about it too often now

Um pretty much at peace with what what happened and uh spending time here I wish a lot of the guys well a lot of the people that I’ve gotten a chance to get to know uh we have relationships that extend off the basketball court and

That’s all I can ask for uh so as a person um again I felt like I was at home whether I was playing a game or not um got to see a lot of smiles got to make some kids really happy uh and that’s what this job is about at the end

Of the day is the next generation and making sure they stay inspired and uh they see me out there doing my thing and uh really getting my teammates involved um you know just want to leave a great legacy for them um no matter who I’m playing for so um you know obviously it

Was emotional you can see my emotions running on out there but after that just pretty much focus on win the basketball game that’s how you had your that’s how you got to see your sister right after the game you have a bunch of family here

Yeah I had a bunch of family here that that’s what makes this environment so special uh even when I wasn’t a Brooklyn Net I would come home and a lot of my family will be here supporting me and that makes the world a difference Kyrie

In your own Kyrie in your own words how how would you like your time in Brooklyn to be remember you honestly I don’t care um cuz that’s subjective everybody has their own opinion I’m just going to let it run run its course and hopefully in

The next few years it’s done um I know a lot of my peers could say the same tired of the the baggage that comes with playing our former teams and all this extra emotional conversations and diet tribes that come for it’s it’s part of our game but at the same time it’s just

Basketball so just want to focus on that and all the uncontrollable things that didn’t um work out for the circumstances that were uncontrollable um that didn’t go in our favor it’s life that’s family is one of the reasons you wanted to come here in the first place I assume you

Want to stay around your family oh yeah I mean how was there anything that could have been Salvage to say you know I don’t want to leave I want to stay here and stick it out or was it too far gone uh I mean I want to get too deep into it cuz

I I love protecting um you know the people that I’m I’m in business with even if it doesn’t work out um again I wish all those guys well but um conversations that needed to be had um weren’t had um before the trade deadline and I don’t know if anything needed to

Be Salvage I just think it was time to get my own peace of mind and go somewhere um where I was able to to thrive um and be in a situation where I didn’t have to worry about um you know kind of behind the back talk or the

Media talk or not knowing how to handle um you know real life circumstances um that uh it has nothing to do with the game of basketball has everything to do with how you handle someone as a person and uh while I was here I’ve learned a

Lot of lessons I’ve made my peace again like I said and I just want to move forward you know things could have changed and you look back at the past and you have 2020 Vision this could have gone right if this would have happened if I didn’t get injured versus the Bucks

Do I get do I still ask for a trade if Katie’s foot wasn’t on the three-point line are we talking about a different Legacy here if James doesn’t ask for a trade all the would have could have should have would is hopefully after this night we could just put that to

Rest and just move forward and I could look forward to the rest of my career and just handling in Dallas and um going after my second Championship when you look have it going like that how difficult is this team to be very difficult very difficult it’s

Fun to play that way um we obviously want to make sure we still get our teammates involved and just allow the game to come to us and and play off each other’s instincts what does it mean for you to come back and see young guys that

You played with like cam Thomas and CL thing take that next step as productive NBA guys yeah I I love those guys and it’s going to continue um but I really just care about their development and while I was here I really had their ear

And really sat them down a few times to prepare them for what’s coming and um you know ultimately I I know that they have the potential to be great players in in this league and uh they just got to be consistent and and find that continuity and and be patient um you

Know every situation is different every team is different so just got to be willing to deal with the hard punches of of winning and losing games and understanding what it takes to to be a championship team I’m I’m still on that road right now so um I appreciate the

Ups and downs of the journey and and how things work out and how we can learn to do better moving forward beond those two just what do you kind of think of the state of your former team you’ve now played them twice this year uh man I think when you trade

Some franchise players and um you know things are are mixed around it’s going to look different it’s going feel different uh you had some of the best players in the world playing on this court playing at bar legs uh I think a lot of the fans and true supporters

Appreciated us and what we did here uh but now it’s it’s time to start fresh over and you know it’s it’s no longer the same uh pressure that was here before of Championship now and who you have on the team uh so I think the environment is a little bit different

But those young guys would be fine um you know they have great heads on their shoulders they work at their crafts uh and and they got to learn from me KD and James and a few other great players that they’ve been alongside so I’m happy for

Them but they’ll be okay I hope more guys um you know like narrative aside and all that stuff like that um we’ve talked before about how you’ve been basically in the B gu since you were 17 um how does it feel to just be back home period like just seeing your family and

Just like yeah man I’m a I’m a uh New Jerusalem or New Jersey kid all the way through and through man um I played a lot of games in the city I played in all the Burrows um if you don’t know anything about my journey or story uh I have a lot of

Family in New York City I have a lot of foundation foundational growth here I spent a lot of my childhood in the Bronx New York specifically the Mitch projects my whole family comes from there Harlem as well um so everything that I’ve learned uh about myself has come from

Being in the city and being in Jersey so when I got an opportunity to play for the New Jersey Nets or play for the Brooklyn n i I always make that mistake cuz um for me it was a childhood dream you know I left the Finals game uh

Watching J kid play watching K Kos play watching Keem Martin play I left that game I was sitting up in the nose bed with my dad and my sister and I went home and that’s when I decided I wanted to become an NBA player so that’s what

I’m talking about in terms of the Next Generation watching um I got to experience the the highs and lows of being a part of two Eastern Conference Finals watching them get very close and and um be defeated but what I learned is I don’t want that to be us and that was

The the motivation in the drive um obviously I fell short in terms of the championship aspirations but for me I think it was bigger than a championship here um I had to really take some moral stances that uh propelled me into a place in my life that I had to become

Accustomed to there was some political things that were going on here as well that I couldn’t control that I I was responsible for um there were some things that I did on my court that I look back on and they were mistakes and I have to you know be accountable for

Those things you know um not perfect but one thing I can say is uh been able to learn from things and know continue to push forward man now I’m around some good people um that’s all that matters man surrounding yourself with some good Folk

Dallas Mavericks superstar Kyrie Irving spoke to reporters after the victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 6, 2024.

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