Kyrie Irving is playing like he needs LeBron James to win an NBA championship (2024)

Kyrie Irving is an All-Star at getting mercilessly booed by Boston fans.

When it comes to foolishly taunting the Celtics on their home court and following up hollow words with 35.1 percent shooting on the same floor, Irving is the best player in the NBA at accomplishing that odd feat.

But returning to Boston for Game 5 or actually winning a 2024 Finals contest in the city that loves to loathe him?

Helping beat-up Luka Doncic carry the Mavericks' weight, which is even heavier now that Dallas is stuck in a huge 2-0 hole?

Know-it-all Irving has been worthless on the NBA's biggest stage through two games.

It’s also looking like, once again, there’s no way that the former No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick will win a world championship without LeBron James as his No. 1.

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That was the case way back in 2016, when The King’s Cleveland Cavaliers dethroned the Golden State Warriors, and turned “Blew a 3-1 lead” into an endless meme.

James was happily on top of the basketball world then.

Irving was the perfect No. 2, showing off handles that were straight out of a video game, while sinking huge shots that changed history.

Eight years later, James can’t even get best-bud JJ Redick to the top of the Los Angeles Lakers’ head coaching search, while Irving is a combined 13-of-37 from the floor in back-to-back Finals humblings.

This is the time when Irving should be picking Doncic up.

This is why Dallas traded in 2023 for the often-mercurial and still-unpredictable Irving, despite the rest of the league having already soured on a guy who once questioned if planet Earth really was the same shape as a basketball and coldly burned bridges in Brooklyn.

When Irving was motivated, healthy and cleared to play, he was a perfect 2 to be paired with a true 1.

As the 2024 Mavs overpowered the best of the west (Clippers, Thunder, Timberwolves) and fought their way to the Finals, it finally looked like Irving had rediscovered what made him so special in the first place.

Not conspiracy theories, politics or deep thinking tweets.

Real, supreme-level basketball that elevated Uncle Drew/Chief Hélà into one of the best hardwood artists on the planet.

Irving was dangerous again on the court that made his name.

He sincerely wanted to win it all again.

And he was going to help Doncic lift a golden, shining trophy, just like he paired with James almost a decade ago.

But after two bad games in Boston, Irving looks second rate again.

He was a woeful 6-of-19 from the floor in Game 1 and 0-of-5 on 3-pointers, turning the ball over more times (three) than he dished out assists (two).

"I haven't played well or up to my standards, as well as I would have liked," Irving said.

"Being back in Boston, there's such a level of desire that I have inside of me to play well. Wanted to be there for my teammates. As a competitor, it's frustrating. But I don't want to let that seep in or spill over to any other decisions I have to make there as a player."

Irving also messed around again and found out.

“I thought it was going to be a little louder in here,” Irving said after Game 1 in Boston, immediately pushing himself and his team into a larger hole before Game 2.

Then he shot 7-of-18 from the floor, again failed to hit a single 3, only made it to the free-throw line twice, and finished with 16 points on a night when Dallas needed a lot more from Doncic's unsteady No. 2.

“A little disappointed in myself not being able to convert a lot more of my opportunities in the lane,” Irving said. “My teammates look for me to convert a lot of shots and lessen the burden not only on Luka but the entire team.”

When the bright lights beamed and a stunned basketball world watched in 2016, The King was the ultimate maverick, getting the most out of Irving as they somehow combined to turn 3-1 Warriors into 4-3 Cavaliers.

Through Games 1 and 2 of the 2024 Finals, Irving has been the eighth- or ninth-best player on the court, outplayed by everyone from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to P.J. Washington, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.

Loud, obnoxious Boston fans are clearly winning.

Doncic is losing, partly because his No. 2 hasn’t been close to good enough.

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Either Irving rediscovers once again what once made him so special in the NBA or the Mavs are done.

If a clanking Irving can’t do better than 6-of-19 and 7-of-18 back beneath the bright lights, this lopsided Finals is already over and Irving’s old team is hanging another championship banner in the rafters.