Dallas Mavericks Star Kyrie Irving Calls OKC Thunder Series 'Most Challenging' of his Career

Things have not come easy to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their first second round appearance since 2016. The youngest No. 1 seed of all time faces elimination on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6.

As the Thunder have labored to score and are a disastrous Free Throw outing from the Mavericks away from already being eliminated, their defense has kept the majority of these contests competitive. If Oklahoma City enjoyed even a relatively normal shooting night at any point in this series, the outlook for the 57-win squad would be different.

Still, they are tasked with prolonging the series on the road against Luka Doncic and company. Doncic’s co-star Kyrie Irving is a perfect 13-0 in close out games to this point in his career and will look to keep that streak alive in Game 6.

While Irving has not had a typical scoring game yet in this series, he has admitted this battle against the Thunder is “one of the hardest series I’ve ever played.”

This might come as a surprise, considering Irving has played in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors at their peak. Though, the veteran guard went on to explain what makes this matchup so challenging.

"It’s just really just the pace and just the physicality," Irving said. "And last series was physical, too, and the pace was a little different. But I think just this series, it’s challenged me physically, mentally, emotionally. I’ve accepted that and I’ve focused on the things that I can control and focused on getting my guys going early."

Irving discussed what’s made his scoring so scares this series is the amount of athletes the Thunder can throw at him.

"They’re keeping somebody on me that’s athletic, that’s going to make it tough on me," Irving said. "So I don’t mind giving myself up in order to create opportunities for my teammates, and I like to see them do well."

Perhaps the Oklahoma City Thunder can continue to contain Irving on the scoreboard - who has done a good job of still impacting this game as a facilitator and defender - coupling that with a hot shooting night for the Bricktown boys could prolong this series to a decisive Game 7.

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