Mavs’ Kyrie Irving returns to Brooklyn — ‘I’ve made my peace’،
NEW YORK — After playing his first game in Brooklyn since being traded exactly a year ago, Kyrie Irving said his motivation for asking the Nets to trade him was that it was “time to have peace of mind and go somewhere where I was.” able to prosper. »
“I mean, I don't want to go too far because I like to protect the people that I do business with, even if it doesn't work out,” Irving said after scoring 36 points and leading the Dallas Mavericks. to a 119-107 victory over the Nets at Barclays Center on Tuesday night. “Again, I wish all those guys good luck. But the conversations that needed to happen didn't happen before the trade deadline, and I don't know if anything needed to be salvaged.
“I just think it was time to have peace of mind and go somewhere where I could thrive and be in a situation where I didn't have to worry about behind-the-back discussions or the media. or not knowing how to handle real life circumstances that have nothing to do with the game of basketball. It has everything to do with how you handle someone as a person.
“During my time here, I learned a lot of lessons. I found peace, like I said, and I just want to move forward.”
Irving's trade from Brooklyn to Dallas took place days before the Nets sent Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns. This season, Durant and Irving returned to Brooklyn within days of each other, with the Suns beating the Nets last Wednesday before Irving and Luka Doncic (35 points, 18 rebounds, 9 assists) propelled Dallas past Brooklyn on Tuesday evening. .
With the Nets (20-30) having lost 15 of their last 20 games, it's a reminder of how much things have changed in Brooklyn — and the promise of Irving and Durant's partnership when they arrived in Brooklyn in free agency before the 2019-20 season.
Instead, the Nets won just one playoff series in Irving and Durant's three and a half years with the franchise. They came close to beating the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals, a series that James Harden played virtually all of with a hamstring injury and Irving missed most of due to a sprained ankle.
“Things could have changed, if you look at the past and take a 20-20 view, it could have gone well or if it had,” Irving said. “If I didn't get hurt against the Bucks, am I still asking for a trade? If KD's foot wasn't on the 3-point line, are we talking about a different legacy here? If James is not asking for a trade…all the woulda's, coulda's, shoulda's, woulda's, hopefully after tonight we can just put this aside and move on and I can look forward to the rest of my career and just take care of it in Dallas and continue my second championship.
Irving and Doncic, playing only their 24th game together this season, put on a show Tuesday night, helping Dallas take an 18-point halftime lead and keeping the Mavericks (28-23) in control for most of it of the evening. When Brooklyn cut the deficit to six with just under five minutes left, Irving scored three straight points to put the game away.
He also had the highlight of the night: an emphatic one-handed jam on an alley-oop pass from forward Josh Green, a play that coach Jason Kidd said Irving called into the huddle. Kidd joked that he told Green to throw a bounce pass.
“Perfect pass,” Irving said with a smile. “Thanks to Josh Green. Perfect pass. He had confidence in me. A lot of my teammates didn't think I could catch lobs, but told them to watch my summer highlights, man. No, but it felt good. to go up there and convert that dunk. It's not too often you see me dunk, so I'm grateful to have a highlight here, man. It felt good.”
Unlike last week, when the Nets welcomed Durant with a tribute video during introductions, there was no fanfare for Irving's return to face the team for which he played 143 games. When Irving was introduced Tuesday, the video board showed a simple “Welcome” message for him and former Nets Seth Curry and Markieff Morris.
During the game, Irving was booed every time he had the ball, followed by cheers from the contingent of Mavericks fans in attendance every time he scored.
The relatively quiet proceedings of Tuesday's game stood in stark contrast to Irving's boisterous tenure with the Nets. He took several leaves of absence during the 2020-21 season, missed most of the 2021-22 season because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and thus violated the vaccination mandate of the New York City and was suspended in November 2022 after promoting an anti-Semitic film on social media.
Irving, who spent much of his childhood in New Jersey, acknowledged Tuesday that he made some mistakes during his time with the Nets, although he declined to say what they were specifically.
“Everything I’ve learned about myself has come from my time in the city and in Jersey,” Irving said. “So when I got the opportunity to play for the New Jersey Nets, or play for the Brooklyn Nets – I always make that mistake – it was a childhood dream.
“Obviously I failed to achieve my championship aspirations. [in Brooklyn]. But for me, I think it was bigger than a championship here. I had to really take moral positions that propelled me into a place in my life that I had to get used to. There were also political things happening that I couldn't control and for which I was responsible. There are certain things that I did according to my agreement that I look back on and they were mistakes. And I have to be responsible for these things. I'm not perfect. But one thing I can say is that I was able to learn things and keep moving forward.”
