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Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks rounded off the opening two games of their 2024 NBA Playoffs Western Conference semis on Oklahoma with a win in Thursday's Game 2. The home crowd was as engaged as ever, especially with Irving and Luka Doncic. Both Mavericks stars had back and forth with the fans.
An "X" user named LegendZ leaked the alleged audio of Irving's exchange with a couple of fans after the game as he drew a foul. Irving allegedly cussed the hecklers, saying:
"Bye bye, pu**y! Go home, pu**y"
Kyrie Irving got into it with a fan in Game 1, too. A courtside viewer threw the ball away after Luka Doncic went to retrieve it, which sparked a furious reaction from the former.
"What the f**k are you doing?" Irving asked the fan.
Meanwhile, Doncic was the fans' primary target throughout Game 2. They erupted in "Luka s**ks" chants while courtside fans sitting next to NFL stars Kyler Murray and James Conner passed comments on Doncic's family, as per the player himself.
Kyrie Irving breaks silence on OKC fans' hostile treatment
Kyrie Irving warned the Thunder fans that their heckling wasn't going to work against the Mavericks as it would only fuel them. Irving described his courtside interaction from Game 1 after Thursday's win while also sharing insights about what went down in Game 2, saying (via Mavericks' beat reporter Grant Afseth):
"Different guys heckling, but little do they know that, that motivates us. We're at OKC, we understand that we lost last game, they have the advantage, but we know how to quiet a crowd and us continuing to be physical, continuing to score baskets, and then at the end of the game in the fourth quarter, we can heckle them back."
Irving and the Mavs returned the favor to the Thunder fans with their words and results. Dallas won the contest 119-110 to tie the series ahead of Games 3 and 4 back home. Irving had a rough scoring night as he tallied nine points on 2 of 8 shooting.
However, he ensured to impact the game with his playmaking and defense. Kyrie Irving dropped 11 assists while making two blocks and steals apiece. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic returned to form with a 29-point double-double. He shot 52.4%, including 5 of 8 from 3.
Irving realized he needed to switch his role for this game after repeated struggles with his shot. He allowed Doncic and others to take charge by limiting his attempts. Tim Hardaway Jr. and P.J. Washington were the key beneficiaries of that, as the former tallied 17 points off the bench on 6 of 10 shooting, while the latter had 29 points on 11 of 18 shooting, including 7 of 11 from 3.
