Kyrie addresses ‘tough times’ in Boston ahead of Finals vs. Celtics originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
It’s been half a decade since Kyrie Irving last played for the Boston Celtics. But when the team you rejected five years ago is the only thing standing between you and a championship, it will be a story.
Irving’s Dallas Mavericks set up a 2024 NBA Finals matchup with the Celtics on Thursday night, dispatching the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals. It’s the third time Irving has faced Boston in the playoffs since leaving the Celtics in June 2019 – his Brooklyn Nets beat the C’s in 2021 and were swept by Boston in 2022 – and considering the veteran guard’s tumultuous history with the CelticsESPN’s Scott Van Pelt felt compelled to ask Irving about facing his former team in the championship round.
“Yeah, man, I’m at a point in my life where I don’t even consider those past moments,” Irving told Van Pelt about his tenure in Boston following the Mavs’ victory on Thursday night. “I was able to unpack them in a healthy way and move forward as a person.
“I had a tough time there when I was in Boston, again, just dealing with a death in my family and dealing with a lot of things outside of court that I wasn’t ready to deal with. Great place to be able to express how I’m feeling, I’m ready to get back to Boston and have fun with my teammates.”
Irving arrived in Boston in the summer of 2017 to much fanfare, but only lasted two seasons in green and white. In renege on 2018 preseason promise to re-sign with Celtics for calling out Boston’s young players for Doing a disappearing act in the second round of the 2019 playoffsIrving wore out his welcome quickly and jumped at the chance to sign with the Nets in 2019 free agency.
Irving will likely hear very loud boos at TD Garden in Game 1 of the Finals next Thursday, and perhaps that will motivate him to channel his inner villain. But for now, the 32-year-old plans to stay the course.
“I know we’re going to be locked in and we’re going to face a great Boston team that has clawed its way to the NBA Finals,” Irving added. “So I see them as a formidable opponent, an honest opponent and we will see the best team win.
“… It’s going to be a chess match and I’m looking forward to it.”
!function()”use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a)if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”])var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r[r].contentWindow===a.source)var i=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;e[r].style.height=i))();
