Bitter loss, but 'a really positive journey' for Mavericks - ESPN

BOSTON — As the Dallas Mavericks essentially waved the white flag, substituting for all of their starters while trailing by 21 points with 2:37 remaining in Monday's Game 5, Kyrie Irving walked toward the other end of the floor to congratulate his former teammates Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, as well as other members of the Boston Celtics.

Irving returned to the bench and exchanged an embrace and a few words with his teammate Luka Doncic, a superstar wrapping up his first NBA Finals appearance.

«We said, 'we'll fight together next season, and we just going to believe,'» Doncic said after the Mavericks' 106-88 loss to the Celtics, who clinched their record-breaking 18th NBA championship.

Irving described it as a «bitter» ending to a «really positive journey» for the Mavericks, who reconstructed the supporting cast around their star tandem over the last year, bouncing back from a lottery finish to win the Western Conference.

The anticipation within the organization is that the Mavs, led by their 25-year-old five-time first-team All-NBA selection, can be a contender for years to come.

«We answered a lot of questions this year on what we were capable of doing and now it's just about being consistent,» said Irving, who struggled again at TD Garden, finishing Game 5 with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting. «I think probably in the last week, I said that I wanted to be remembered as one of the best teams of this era and our last few champions have been a new one each and every year.

»So, I see an opportunity for us to really build our future in a positive manner where this is almost like a regular thing for us, and we're competing for championships. You know, I think from a spiritual standpoint, I think I enjoyed this journey more