Things got a bit sloppy during the first quarter of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves, as both teams turned the ball over on consecutive possessions leading to an utterly chaotic scene.
Fortunately for those viewing back at home, TNT’s Kevin Harlan didn’t miss a beat with his call, providing outstanding commentary of the moment in order to help fans better keep track of who had the ball amid the flurry of possession exchanges.
Even Reggie Miller had to take a moment to express his appreciation for Harlan’s masterful call.
“How did you get that all in there?” he asked while laughing.
Kevin Harlan calls a chaotic sequence and impresses Reggie Miller and Stan Van Gundy. đđď¸đ pic.twitter.com/BquAbI3yfn
â Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 31, 2024
A Kyle Anderson turnover led to a mad scramble for possession, with the ball being tipped up in the air and batted toward Josh Green, who then sent a high bounce pass over to Daniel Gafford, who was fouled on at attempt at a layup.
Harlan was locked in, and he didn’t miss a beat as he navigated the hectic play with precision, showcasing why he’s heralded as one of the best in the business.
Last week, as thousands of green-clad fans spilled out of TD Garden and onto nearby Causeway St. still buzzingâand for many, still buzzedâfrom Bostonâs Game 2 win over Indiana, an unmistakable chant filled the warm spring air.
We want Kyrie âŚ
We want Kyrie âŚ
It will be Dallas vs. Boston in the NBA Finals. Itâs also Boston vs. Kyrie. Five years after Kyrie Irvingâs abrupt exit, public (basketball) enemy No. 1 is back in town. They have met in the playoffs before, with Irvingâs Nets wiping the floor with a battered Boston team in 2021 and the Celtics sweeping Brooklyn in â22.
A trip to the second round was at stake in those series.
Said Irving, âBoston is in the way between our goal.â
In Boston, the disdain for Irving runs deep. Heâs Ulf Samuelsson in high tops. Roger Goodell in gym shorts. The most disliked NBA player since Bill Laimbeer. What Reggie Miller is to New York, Irving is to Boston. The only difference is Miller never wore a Knicks uniform. On eBay, you can still buy Irving jerseys in Celtics green.
Time heals most wounds. Not these. These have barely scabbed over. Irving has not exactly attempted to ease the tension. In 2021, before Irving returned to Boston for a first-round playoff series with Brooklyn, he said he hoped not to hear any âsubtle racism.â After beating the Celtics in Game 4, Irving walked to center court and stomped on the logo.
There will inevitably be attempts to rewrite history in the days ahead. Irving didnât hate Boston. He just wanted to go home to New York. He didnât have bad relationships with his teammates. Thatâs media stuff, reporters chasing clicks. He didnât bail out on his team late in the 2018-19 season. Those Celtics just didnât have enough.
Nonsense. He wasnât on the same page as Brad Stevens. He didnât have much of a relationship with Jaylen Brown. Quit is probably too strong of a word but talk to enough people around that 2018-19 team and itâs clear thereâs a belief that late in the season, Irving checked out. In the fall of â18, Irving grabbed a mic and told a giddy Garden crowd he intended to re-sign there. By the spring, he was gone.
On Sunday, Irving talked about how he better understands leadership. In Boston, he struggled with it. Irving was the only member of the Celtics core with a championship, a status he was known to wield like a cudgel. He knew what it took to winâand he had the ring to prove it. During one locker room discussion, sources told SI, it was pointed out that Al Horford won two championships at Florida. Not the same, Irving said. A Boston assistant was part of a championship staff in Europe. Not the same, he replied. Aron Baynes, a reserve center on the Celtics 2018-19 team who won a title with San Antonio, wasnât in the room for the exchange. At least one ex-teammate wonders what Irving would have said if he was.
Things never fully clicked for Irving (11) in Boston. / Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
In Dallas, things are different. Throughout the organization, respect for Irving runs deep. He has been an extension of Jason Kidd on the floor. He has been a calming influence off of it. He has figured out how to succeed opposite Luka DonÄiÄ, creating an all-time great duo in the process. When Irving returned from a leg injury in January, team officials marveled at the effort Irving was putting in on the defensive end of the floor.
Asked about the skepticism of Irvingâs fit in Dallas, Kidd said, âItâs alright to be wrong.â
Some of it is Irving, at 32, facing reality. He has played on three teams in the last six seasons. Four in the last eight. Cleveland, Boston, BrooklynâVesuvius left less wreckage. When Irving hit free agency last summer, Dallas was the only team offering real money to sign him.
Some of it is Dallas. The warm Texas climate and its right leaning politics. âHe still will have his opinions of what he thinks,â said Kidd. âAnd here with the Mavs, we support that.â In Kidd, Irving has found a peer. Irving grew up watching Kidd in New Jersey. When Irving was in high school, they connected at a Nike event. âHe was pretty good,â said Kidd. Inside the Dallas locker room, the bond between Irving and Kidd is ironclad.
âJust being able to talk the truth or speak the truth to one another,â said Kidd. âI compliment him for trusting me. I'm only here to tell him the truth and to try to help him achieve his goals.â
Kidd knows what itâs like to be a villain in Boston, his Nets years filled with fierce Celtics battles. Kidd was fueled by the hate. At times, Irving has seemed rattled by it. Irving has faced the Celtics 10 times since the 2021 playoffs. He has lost each one. He has had several dustups with fans, admitting in â22 that the crass attacks were âabout so much you can take as a competitor.â It was bad then. It will be worse now.
âIâm at a place in my life where I donât consider those past moments,â Irving told ESPN. âI was able to unpack them in a healthy way [and] move forward as a person. I had a rough time there when I was in Boston, dealing with a death in my family and a lot of off-court stuff that I wasnât ready to handle. Now that Iâm in a great place to be able to vocalize how Iâm feeling, Iâm ready to go back into Boston and have fun with my teammates.â
Fun? Thatâs up to Irving. Dallas needs a poised Irving. A composed one. This will be a difficult series. The Celtics are 2â0 against the Mavericks this season. They beat them by nine before the trades that brought P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford to Dallas. They beat them by 28 after. They have elite defenders, dynamic wing scorers and will likely have a healthy Kristaps PorziĹÄŁis when the series begins next week.
âThey have a lot of talented players,â said Kidd. âThey've been [to the Finals] before. They have the experience, they're well coached. This is another great test.â
They need Irving. DonÄiÄ will get his points. The All-NBA guard is enjoying one of the finest stretches of his career. But he will need help. He will need Irving to be the shot maker he was in the conference finals, where he averaged 27 pointsâincluding 36 in Game 5âon 49% shooting. The three-point shooter (42.3%) he has been in the playoffs. The All-Star-level sidekick he has been all season.
Irving is coming to Boston, and make no mistake: a hyped up Boston crowd will be waiting. The boos will be loud, the rhetoric nasty. It will be the most intense environment Irving has played in and this time, everything is at stake. A championship is within reach for Kyrie Irving. Itâs the Celtics, itâs Boston standing in front of it.
Dallas Mavericks star guard Kyrie Irving poured in 28 of his team-high 30 points in the second half to lead his team to a 114â101 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at the American Airlines Center. But four of those points were more memorable than any of the others scored by Irving in the victory, which advanced the Mavericks to the Western Conference semifinals.
One fourth quarter sequence perfectly encapsulated Irving's offensive arsenal, as he put Clippers defender P.J. Tucker in a blender with a series of crossover dribbles and a sidestep, leading to a three-pointer, which Irving drilled, and a foul, which resulted in a made free throw from the Mavericks star.
The four-point play, which occurred with 5:38 remaining in the game and the Mavericks up by 20 points, left fans' and announcers' jaws on the floor. But the best reactions came from the Dallas bench.
The entire bench was electrified by the four-point play. But Mavericks center Daniel Gafford's reaction was pricelessâand pretty much sums up what it looks like to watch Irving dribble a ball.
Irving averaged 26.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 44.9 percent from three-point range in six games in the first round.
A new NBA champion will be crowned come June with the official start of the 2024 NBA Finals.
This yearâs competition will feature a showdown between the top-seeded Boston Celtics and either the No. 5 Dallas Mavericks or No. 3 Minnesota Timberwolves. The Mavs currently lead the Western Conference finals series, 3-1, and will play the Timberwolves in Game 5 on Thursday.
If the Mavericks manage to close out the series, they will battle Jayson Tatum and the Celtics for their first NBA championship in 13 years.
The Celtics, meanwhile, will be looking to clinch their 18th championship in franchise history, which would surpass the Los Angeles Lakers (17) for most championships all-time.
Hereâs how to watch and listen to the 2024 NBA Finals.
All 2024 NBA Finals games will broadcast on ABC.
Fans who have a cable subscription will be able to view the Finals broadcast, which is exclusive to ABC. They should check their local TV stations for specific channel info.
GAME
MATCHUP
DATE/TIME
CHANNEL
Game 1
Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves @ Boston Celtics
Thursday, June 6, 8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 2
Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves @ Boston Celtics
Sunday, June 9, 8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 3
Boston Celtics @ Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves
Wednesday, June 12, 8:30 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 4
Boston Celtics @ Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves
Friday, June 14, 8:30 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 5 (if necessary)
Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves @ Boston Celtics
Monday, June 17, 8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 6 (if necessary)
Boston Celtics @ Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves
Thursday, June 20, 8 p.m. ET
ABC
Game 7 (if necessary)
Dallas Mavericks/ Minnesota Timberwolves @ Boston Celtics
Sunday, June 23, 8 p.m. ET
ABC
All 2024 NBA Finals games will be available to stream on the ESPN app as well as the ABC app. Both the ESPN and ABC apps will require a TV provider login, though.
Streaming options that donât require cable include FuboTV, DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. For fans not looking to spend exorbitant amounts on a streaming service, FuboTV offers a free one-week trial to new subscribers.
All 2024 NBA Finals games will be available to listen to on Sirius XM NBA Radio, Channel 86 nationally.
For local stations, fans are encouraged to check their local listings for channel information specific to their area.
Select NBA Finals broadcasts are also available on NBA on ESPN Radio. Fans should also check their local listings for more information as the start date of the Finals nears.