‘Just have to be smart and manage it’

Kyrie Irving returned to the court Tuesday night, eight days after it was reported he could miss up to two weeks with a bulging disc in his back.

Just because Irving bounced back relatively quickly doesn’t mean his back is perfectly fine or anything close to a guarantee he’ll be pain- and worry-free for the rest of this season, which reaches the midway point Wednesday night in New Orleans.

After the Mavericks’ 118-99 home loss to Denver on Tuesday night, a game in which he shot 4-for-18 and scored 11 points, Irving spoke in the Mavericks locker room about the injury and the prognosis. What the Mavericks call a lumbar sprain, Irving calls a bulging disc:

Q: How did you feel tonight?

IRVING: I felt much better. The last almost two weeks have sucked, to be real with you. I haven’t really had back problems before, so when I got the MRI back and found out it was a bulging disc, I talked to a few experts; a few doctors; talked to some of my teammates; also talked to some of the guys on our coaching staff who have been dealing with surgery or just dealing with the maintenance of it.

It’s on and off. So I just have to be very smart about it, but I’m thankful that I got a chance to go out and get some minutes. Tonight really felt like I just jumped off the couch and decided to play an NBA game.

Warming up the last few days was good, but it’s not like being an NBA game, just getting into rhythm. So I’m thankful that my teammates had my back out there. Obviously it wasn’t the best performance for us, top to bottom, but I’m just thankful that I could be out there and get another game tomorrow.

Q: When you say, when you say you have to be smart about it, how much of a concern is there? Or how wary do you have to be that this is going to happen a bit continuously?

IRVING: That’s my body, bro. You know how it is. This is how I take care of my family. So anything that goes on with the back or knees, feet, you have to be very careful. So just talk to the medical staff, do everything we can to make sure we have a plan and just go from there. But there’s not really, like a heavy, heavy concern in the locker room or the coaching staff.

Q Are you still dealing with pain now?

IRVING: Um, after a little bit of help from different things — I mean like medically just to help relieve some of the pain. At first I couldn’t even put my socks on standing up. I had to sit down every single time.

I couldn’t really meditate. I got a lot of uncomfortable feeling down my back thigh and also straight down my leg. So just deal with some unpleasant things, get used to it and

to be able to get some rest and come out better within the last week or so.

Q: What have the experts told you? Are you going to make it through the rest of the season?

IRVING: It’s a bulging disc in the back, so you just have to do your best to deal with it. It’s not to the point where it’s bad enough that I need surgery, which I thank God for. But I have the support of our medical staff and a few other people in this locker room who have dealt with the same thing. So just be smart about it.

Not to be too careful. I will most likely play (Wednesday) so just give it a shot and keep trying to get my rhythm and get back into game shape and just go from there.