Six months ago, when the Western Conference finals were about to begin, rising star
Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves made some controversial comments about his team's defensive strategy against the Dallas Mavericks.
The opponent that Edwards would face in a matchup is Kyrie Irving, he declared. "So that's going to be fun."
In Game 1, Dallas took the lead with a road victory in Minnesota, and Irving only managed to score 30 points on 12-for-23 shooting.
The eight-time All-Star finished the five-game series with an average of 27 points, five assists, and four rebounds on 49/38/81 shooting splits; afterwards, he noted that he took Edwards' words "as motivation" going into the competition.
Guard Jrue Holiday of the Boston Celtics made a brilliant choice in his comments regarding Kyrie Irving on the night before Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Holiday offered a refreshingly straightforward one-word answer before going into more depth when asked what he might do to put some constraints on Irving.
Holiday, arguably the NBA's finest perimeter defender, just made a game-winning steal against Indiana Pacers player Andrew Nembhard in the Eastern Conference playoffs.