One of the biggest narratives spicing up the 2024 NBA Finals is the relationship between Dallas Mavericks superstar point guard Kyrie Irving and his former team, the Boston Celtics. Irving played a couple of seasons wearing Boston colors from 2017 to 2019.
However, that part of his professional basketball career isn't the most amiable for both sides. It's for the same reason that Celtics fans boo Irving when he's in Beantown and why Boston supporters showed up in Game 1 of the finals with a blow-up doll with his face on it and destroyed it following their team's dominant 107-89 win over Luka Doncic and the Mavs.
While many Celtics fans continue to show their resentment for Irving, Irving's former Boston teammate, Al Horford, has long been over the issue.
“I don’t know if there’s much of a relationship, but there is a mutual respect,” Horford said, per The Athletic.
“Things happen in life and obviously things didn’t work out here how we wanted it. But it’s already been a few years, and in my eyes, I’m already looking past it. We’ve been over it. I feel like he’s over it, I feel like I’m over it and we’re looking to the next chapter,” the veteran big man added.
Irving landed in Boston in 2017 after reportedly asking the Cleveland Cavaliers to get him out of the shadows of four-time league Most Valuable Player LeBron James. He got what he wanted as the Cavs sent him to the Celtics in a trade that got Cleveland Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and a first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft which ultimately got used to pick Alabama Crimson Tide star Collin Sexton. In Irving's first season with the Celtics, they came just a win short of advancing to the finals, as they lost in the NBA Eastern Conference championship series against, well, James and the Cavs. Irving, however, did not play in that postseason due to an injury and didn't show up in Game 7 of the Cavaliers series to show support for his teammates in person.
“Kyrie had a deviated septum, had some surgery on that, and so I don't think he wanted to be seen,” then Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said about Irving's absence. “He's a really good-looking guy. He can't ruin his movie career.”
The following season, the Celtics made it back to the playoffs but got eliminated in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks, four games to one. Irving struggled with his shot during that playoff ride, and his troubles offensively got highlighted further in the Bucks series where he averaged 20.4 points on just 36.5 percent shooting from the floor and a brutal 21.9 3-point shooting percentage.
Irving then took his talents to the Brooklyn Nets even though he hinted at re-signing with the Celtics months earlier.
Horford, Celtics looking to bury Mavericks deeper
Amid all the drama brought about by Irving's history in Boston is Horford and the Celtics, who want nothing more than to bring NBA title No. 18 to the franchise. They have already taken a big step closer to that goal with their Game 1 victory where Horford played well, scoring 10 points with seven rebounds, and three assists to go with two 3-pointers. As for Irving, he got contained by Boston's defense, going just 6/19 on his attempts from the field for 12 points.
Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals is set for Sunday night in Boston at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
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