The Boston Celtics finished off their sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night, and they have been waiting for the Western Conference Finals to wrap up to see who their final opponent of the season will be. After they won Game 5 on Thursday night, it was revealed that Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks will be the Celtics foe in the 2024 NBA Finals.
There are storylines all over the place in this series, chief among them being Irving's return to Boston on the biggest stage the game has to offer. Irving is not popular in Boston for several reasons, one of them being because he was caught stomping the Celtics logo at TD Garden back during his time with the Brooklyn Nets. Unsurprisingly, that image went viral after Dallas clinched their spot in the Finals, and it turns out there is an interesting Mavericks twist in the photo that has quickly caught fans' attention.
Celtics looking to get the last laugh against Kyrie Irving
Irving spent two seasons with the Celtics, and confidently declared prior to the 2018-19 season that he intended to re-sign with the team over the upcoming offseason. That squad ended up struggling after they made it to the ECF the year before, and it led to Irving going back on his word and signing with the Nets in free agency, teaming up with Kevin Durant in the process. Ever since then, Irving has been public enemy number one in Boston.
When he's returned to TD Garden since leaving the C's, Irving has been booed viciously by fans, and he further drew their ire when he was caught stomping on their logo in Game 4 of their first-round series in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. As it turns out, the Mavericks logo was in the background of the image of Irving stomping on the Celtics logo, providing an eerie twist to an image that has been popping up all over social media since the Mavs clinched their Game 5 victory over the Timberwolves.
In 2021, Irving and the Nets sent the Celtics packing in five games, but Boston responded by sweeping Brooklyn in the first round of the 2022 playoffs the next year. Now, they will meet for the deciding series, and the stakes are considerably higher since a championship is on the line. Whichever side wins will undoubtedly have the upper hand in this long-running beef.
Irving should expect a smattering of boos whenever he finds himself on the road this series, and given how good both Boston and Dallas looked in their respective conference finals, it's clear that we are in for a great series. The Celtics would love to win a title, while also preventing Irving from winning another one, and they have a perfect chance to do just that in their upcoming Finals matchup with the Mavericks.
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