Irving cool, collected during give-and-take with Finals media

BOSTON – Kyrie Irving calmly answered questions from the media for 12 minutes on Saturday.

It wasn’t nearly as tough as any of the four quarters he played on Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Try as they might, media members could not rattle Irving. He was calm and thoughtful and defused any attempts to get him into a running commentary that might agitate Boston fans or derail his focus from the Mavericks’ No. 1 task, which is winning Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday to even the series before it switches to Dallas for Games 3 and 4.

Irving even was asked about possible panic from Mavericks’ fans, to which he said: “It’s not the first time we’ve heard Dallas fans are panicking. Shout-out to our fans. We appreciate your support all year. Just stay poised, man. Stay focused on the goal. The mission is bigger than us.”

Beyond that, it was a lively give-and-take between Irving and reporters in Boston less than 48 hours after Irving had a forgettable 12-point outing in Game 1. During the opener, fans continuously booed Irving whenever he touched the ball and reveled in his 6-of-19 shooting.

Irving took it all in stride.

Here’s a sample of what he said Saturday during his media session, edited for space considerations.

Question: You’ve been part of multiple star duos. How does the debate about who’s the best player or who’s team this is impact a team and how do you handle that?

Irving: “By doing your best not to pay attention to it because a lot of people don’t know what they are talking about, and specifically if you’ve never played that position or been on a team at that level where you have to go through it yourself. I know we have people that appreciate the game of basketball that speak on it. But at the same time, it’s an everyday thing when you’re on the team with other guys that add value to the team. They have skill sets; they work on their game and they want to be appreciated, too. I do my best to nonchalantly push that conversation to the side of 1A, 1B or whose team is it, this, that. I’m just here to play basketball. It’s a dream come true to be at this level. I’ve had to work extremely hard. I’ve been a winner my whole entire life. I’ve obviously had some failures and loss but done a lot more winning. In order to be on that type of frequency or that goal, you’ve got to be selfless in your approach. You just want to push those other things to the side that don’t really matter or get you better as a team. So we just leave it to everybody else to argue whose team it is.”

Question: What adjustments do you have to make for Game 2?

Irving: “It was our first time being together as a group (on) this Finals stage. Experience is the best teacher at times when you don’t know what to expect. Going out there, TD Garden, playing against the Boston Celtics, who are having a historic season. We knew they were going to come out with a lot of verve, a lot of energy. And they have been doing it all year. It’s pretty easy to say we can focus on our end and pay attention to what we can control. But it’s a little bit deeper than that. Just got to calm our nerves and be aware of the environment we are in. It’s going to be high intense from who we are going against. It’s going to be very physical. Some things are going to be called and some things aren’t. I think we got all that experience in Game 1, and we are looking forward to the challenge in Game 2 to play better and being who we have been since post-All-Star Break and having fun doing it. We are the only two teams playing. We’re proud of ourselves, but we’re not satisfied.”

Question: How do you handle environments like this? Is it better to ignore it? Do you engage with fans?

Irving: “By realizing that I’ve been in this league for 13 years, and I’ve been playing against the Celtics for quite a few years and I have quite a few playoff series against them, whether wins or losses. So I just try to be aware that this is a new space that I’m in as one of the leaders of the team and with the new group. We are going against a very historic team in the Boston Celtics, but we’re a great team too. We have to remember that. And engaging with fans here in Boston is always fun. Like I said last week, it’s something I’ll turn the page over on, too, but people continue to ask me about it and what I think about it, which is cool, too. But yeah, this is what makes sports fun. Getting a chance to go against a giant like this, whether it be just talking about the team or talking about the environment and the fans and how crazy it can get. This is what I imagine it being like, getting to this stage again, earning our way to be here with my teammates and being able to put our best foot forward going against the best of the best. That’s everything you dream of. Everything else is extracurricular.”

Question: Has this been the hardest moment for you to laser-focus on basketball because so much other stuff is going on?

Irving: “No. Not really. Again, I’ve been able to grow over the past few years to put basketball in perspective. This is an incredible experience that I get to live out for quite a few years of my life. I’m going to learn a lot of lessons that I’m going to apply to life after this. I failed miserably while also not knowing how to compartmentalize or accept the emotions that come with failure, and also being on the successful side – didn’t know how to handle that either. So the past few years have been about that growth perspective for me and learning how to handle myself in situations and circumstances that are going to be more beneficial for me to learn now than learning it when I’m 38 years old. I don’t expect to be celebrated by everybody. I’m going to still be aware that a lot of people want to see me fail. But again, I think I pay attention more to the way that I’m celebrated from people that love me unconditionally and I go home and have a peace of mind. But putting into perspective the blowup dolls and remarks that are getting said, that’s basketball. When I leave out of here and I walk around Boston, I don’t hear a lot of the things that I hear when I’m playing on the court. There’s a lot of mutual respect. There’s a lot of eye-to-eye communication that’s built on just being human, and they appreciate the things I do off the floor, as well. So there are a lot of Celtics fans out there that still love me, too, surprising to everybody. I’ve been able to accept what I cannot change but also change the way that I look at things to be more positive. So this is fun for me, man. This is healthy. I’m glad that I can be up here on this stage speaking authentically and then also go home and be at peace.”

Question: When it’s you, Jason Kidd and Luka Dončić talking basketball, how different is it than when you are with others who maybe don’t see the game the way you guys do?

Irving: “Yeah, teaching is fun. Being a student is even more fun. So when you’re in a film session with J-Kidd or Coach (Sean) Sweeney or even Luka, myself, and the rest of our guys, there’s a lot of honest communication going on. Just what we see. And we always make sure that we are aware that we’re a new group in this environment, too. So give ourselves some grace and patience and be ready to play our best game every day and prepare. The things we see out there, we have to talk about it. So as we look to become an even better team, a greater team through this experience, this is what’s needed is just that honest communication.

X: @ESefko