Kyrie Irving is waving the white flag. The Nets veteran says he’s through dwelling on the past, preferring to put his “Boston era” in the rearview mirror and concentrate on what really matters—leading Brooklyn to an NBA title.
Of course, that’s much easier said than done. The bad blood between Irving and his former team has been a major talking point in the leadup to Brooklyn’s first-round series with Boston, which begins Sunday at TD Garden. Though Irving claims he’s done fanning the flames, the All-Star guard has done plenty to escalate the rivalry in recent years, taking aim at Boston’s “underlying racism” while comparing Celtics fans to a “scorned girlfriend.”
Jayson Tatum claims his former teammate wishes he had done “some things differently” during his turbulent Celtics tenure, though Irving has acknowledged no such sentiment publicly. Irving, who Boston acquired in a trade sending Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder to Cleveland, appeared in 127 games as a Celtic from 2017-19, averaging 24.1 points, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals over that span. Irving left Boston as soon as he got the chance, bolting to the hated Nets in free agency.
Boston dealt with its own chemistry problems early in the year, though the C’s have largely put those struggles behind them, coming together under rookie coach Ime Udoka. The Celtics won three of four versus Brooklyn during the regular season, however, those results can be taken with a grain of salt seeing as Irving was only available for one of those games.
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