Las Vegas Review-Journal

Irving at peace looking ahead after making Brooklyn return

- By Brian Mahoney

NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving is ready to leave the turbulent times in Brooklyn behind and focus on his future in Dallas.

A year after he was traded by the Nets, Irving returned for the first time Tuesday night and said he doesn’t worry about people’s opinions of his 3 1/2 seasons with Brooklyn. Nor does he think there’s any point dwelling about the bad breaks on the court and all the drama that came off it.

“I don’t want to get too deep into it because I love protecting the people that I’m in business with, even if it doesn’t work out,” Irving said. “Again, I wish all those guys well, but conversati­ons that needed to be had weren’t had before the trade deadline and I don’t know if anything needed to be salvaged, I just think it was time to get my own peace of mind and go somewhere where I was able to thrive.

“Being in a situation where I didn’t have to worry about kind of behindthe-back talk or the media talk, or not knowing how to handle real-life circumstan­ces that has nothing to do with the game of basketball. Has everything to do with how you handle someone as a person and while I was here I learned a lot of lessons, but I’ve made my peace again.”

Irving scored 36 points in front of a crowd that included a number of family and friends of the point guard who grew up in New York and New Jersey. A Nets fan who watched them play in the NBA Finals in the early 2000s made a celebrated move to join them in the summer of 2019 alongside close friend Kevin Durant.

James Harden came in the 202021 season but they never got close to a title. Brooklyn won just one series with the All-star trio, then lost Harden and Irving to injuries against eventual champion Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Nets didn’t give Irving a tribute video, which they did for Durant. Fans booed him early in the game, but he eventually heard more cheers and was greeted warmly by many fans after the game.

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