Mavs' Kyrie Irving Praises Celtics Defense in NBA Finals: Playing 'Best of the Best'

The Boston Celtics' defense has frustrated Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks through three games of the NBA Finals.

The Celtics have held Irving, who is typically an efficient scorer, to just 21 points per game on 40 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from deep thus far. Boston has also held the Mavericks to under 100 points in all three games, something that had happened only four times in this year's playoffs.

Ahead of Game 4, Irving had high praise for his former team's defense, per NBC Sports Boston's Nick Goss.

"Going out there and competing with the best of the best, going against Jrue [Holiday] and Jaylen [Brown] and JT [Jayson Tatum] and seeing their ability to cover up some of their mistakes or trust each other to make the right plays on the defensive end has shown me what I have to continue to work on and also learn to how to think the game in a better way," Irving said. "I'm going against the best of the best, and this is what I've always dreamt of. Whether we win or lose, it's the growth that I look at and how I can continue to be a better leader for my teammates."

Irving finally found his game in Game 3 after scoring just 28 points through the first two games of the series. He finished with 35 points on Wednesday, but as Jaylen Brown said, "it just wasn't enough."

Now the Celtics are just a game away from their 18th NBA championship, while the Mavericks are looking to make history and erase a 3-0 deficit. If Boston is able to handle business as it should, the defense will certainly get plenty of credit.