Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving - Late-season 'pressure' is new territory

NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has played in some of the most pressure-packed atmospheres the game can offer, but as his team prepares for next week's play-in tournament and tries to solidify its playoff seeding with just four regular-season games left, Irving admits he has never felt this kind of late-season pressure.

«I've never been in a situation like this where late in the season all these games matter,» Irving said after Tuesday's shootaround. «Usually you're just trying to fine-tune your game, work on details, get some rest. But I've been playing 40 minutes [at] the end of the season, it's the first probably few times in my career, even when I think about my first three years in Cleveland we were not winning as many games towards the end of the season, there still wasn't as much pressure.»

Irving said he doesn't feel the expectations of the Nets have changed despite the fact that they come into Tuesday's game against the Houston Rockets with a 40-38 record and currently sit 10th in the Eastern Conference after a season full of ups and downs.

«I think that was probably part of our own pressure that we were putting on ourselves,» Irving said. «It's a must-win-now mentality, and though it is there, but we're in it for the long run so we're just going to play free and do everything we can to prepare for this play-in tournament.»

Irving said it did not matter to him where the Nets land in the play-in tournament, echoing what star forward Kevin Durant said after Monday's practice.

«It doesn't matter,» Irving said. «We look forward to whoever's going to be our opponent. We'll prepare for them. Do-or-die situation, one-game elimination. It is what it is.»

Nets guard Bruce Brown said after Monday's practice