Kyrie Irving Believes Injury Robbed 2021 Nets of Title: ‘No F***ing Doubt About It’
To win a championship in the NBA, or any sport, many things come into play to help you become the last team standing. One of those things is health. Availability is the best ability and a lot of the time, and it's the teams who sustain the least amount of noteworthy injuries that make deep playoff runs.
On Tuesday afternoon, Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving responded to a tweet showcasing a screenshot of the ankle sprain he suffered in Game 4 of the second round of the 2021 playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks. The injury forced Irving out of the remainder of the series as the Brooklyn Nets lost a heartbreaking thriller in Game 7 for the right to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the reply, Irving voiced how the injury was the 'most disappointing and painful' of his career and that if healthy, his Nets' team would have won the series and ultimately hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy that year, which was ultimately won by the Bucks.
"One of the most disappointing and painful moments of career. If I don’t get hurt that series, every single one of us on that Brooklyn team/bandwagon would be Champions. No f***ing doubt about it."
Now, would Irving, Kevin Durant, and the Nets have beaten the Bucks with a healthy Irving? It's likely. And with how Brooklyn was playing, they would have surely advanced past the young and inexperienced Atlanta Hawks to meet the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.
Playing the 'what if' game is always dangerous, as there's a number of variables that come into play, but Irving has a valid argument that if he were to not suffer the ankle sprain while the Nets were up 2-1 in that series, we could be having a completely different conversation about that Brooklyn team. And if they were to win a championship, Irving might not be a Dallas Maverick.
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