Kyrie Irving Reveals Where His Focus Lies, Quotes Josh Hart During Post-Game Presser

With Luka Doncic having a subpar display from the field, Kyrie Irving stepped up big time to allow the Dallas Mavericks to clinch a Game 3 win. Irving’s 22-point, 7-assist performance was impressive. However, a post-game clip has gone more viral than any of his plays from during the contest.

In the press conference after the win, the Mavericks guard highlighted Josh Hart‘s viral quote.

Kyrie Irving was asked whether he believed he had anything else to prove, basketball-wise. Now, Kai is known for being a philosophical human who thinks a lot off-court. Hence, he dismissed the idea of needing to prove anything. Instead, he spoke about the perspective that all the NBA players should take a deep look at. At this time, the 2016 champion brought up Josh Hart’s viral ‘12-hour work shifts’ quote from last year.

“I don’t think it’s so much about proving, I believe it’s just putting the basketball game in perspective. I think Josh Hart had a tremendous quote where he talked about people having 12-hour shifts and we get to go out there and play a game that we love. That was a nail right on the head for a lot of us in the way we feel. That doesn’t take away from our competitive spirit and what we wanna accomplish as legacy members of the NBA,” Irving said.

Apart from speaking about the sacrifices that NBA players make, the eight-time All-Star revealed one of his goals–to get the next generation to appreciate the game as “an art space” and not solely from a financial standpoint.

“Sometimes we forget that we are the top of the top. We have ascended here because of a lot of hard work, because we sacrificed a lot of family time, because we’ve done little things in order to be great teammates and to be recognized as some of the most special, most talented players in the world.

The next generation is watching. I want them to have this game to appreciate as an art space and not just ‘business, business, business.’ You should enjoy the competition, you should enjoy going up against the best of the best,” Kai concluded.

It is great to see players such as Kyrie Irving and Josh Hart acknowledging their privileges. This privilege also becomes a driving force for such players, who tend to give back to the community using their platform. Their unique approach makes them an incredible leader figure for the franchises they are part of.

Kyrie Irving reiterated Josh Hart’s “12-hour working shift” viral quote

The New York Knicks have been the talk of the basketball community. While Jalen Brunson has been leading the shorthanded unit to a favorable spot to make an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, Josh Hart has also been praised for the hustle he’s shown throughout the postseason.

Amidst the fact that Hart averaged 46.4 minutes played in the first 9 games of the playoff, a one-year-old video of him talking about being fatigued has gone viral on social media.

During a chat with the reporters, Hart compared the 40+ minutes that NBA players have to play with the 12-hour shifts that several people have to wake up at 6 AM for. Using this as a perspective, the former Villanova Wildcat made sure that his teammates were motivated to be full of energy for the entire duration of the games.

“Our jobs is to play basketball…You got people getting up at 6 AM, doing 12-hour shifts. Those guys are tired. For us, we’re playing the game. Obviously, we’re fortunate enough to play a game like this but we have to keep that in perspective…So, we gotta make sure we’re full of energy and lively every time we step on the court,” Hart said.

A mentality like this has benefitted the Knicks. Despite being merely 6ft 4, Hart has been averaging 13.3 rebounds (per Basketball Reference) and creating abundant second-chance points for his team. The two-way player will certainly have a big role to play going ahead as Tom Thibodeau’s boys hope to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.