Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks are currently gearing up to take part in the upcoming NBA Finals vs the Boston Celtics, which are set to get underway with Game 1 on Thursday evening on the road. The Mavericks have gotten to this point by taking down three separate 50-plus win teams in the vaunted Western Conference postseason bracket, and Irving turned his scoring up several notches in the Western Conference Finals to help overcome the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Irving seems to be in a much more tranquil state of mind as of late with the Mavericks as compared to his previous two stops with the Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets. Of course, Irving's name entered the national consciousness initially for his work with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he first started out as a dynamic young point guard and then became the second best player on a championship team there after LeBron James rejoined the franchise ten years ago.
All of this begs the question as to which of Irving's stops around the league has been the most beneficial in his view, and his answer might surprise some Cleveland fans.
“This has been the greatest … portion of my career,” Irving said, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Spots. “To be able to now give wisdom and also speak from a place of experience. When you're a young person, again, you're trying to speed through life, you're trying to get through everything.”
He also spoke on how he and his Mavericks teammates are looking to carve out their own place in NBA immortality.
“You know, people remember the greatest players of all time, and they argue all the time, but no one really talks about team aspect unless they're a true fan of the craft,” said Irving. “You talk about the Spurs, you gotta talk about dynasty. You talk about the Lakers, you got to talk about dynasty. You talk about the Celtics, you talk about dynasty. They literally took over eras, the Detroit Pistons, they defined an era.”
Can the Mavericks pull off the upset?
Irving is of course the number two option on the Mavericks to Luka Doncic, much as he was to James during his time with the Cavaliers. However, beyond Doncic in Irving, it would appear that the Celtics would have five out of the seven best players in this series, which is probably why they're the massive betting favorites as things get underway.
Irving has squared off with the Celtics twice in the playoffs since leaving that organization in 2019. The first time occurred during the 2021 postseason, when the Irving-Kevin Durant-James Harden led Nets took down the Celtics, playing without Jaylen Brown, in five games. However, the following year, Boston got their revenge, shockingly sweeping Irving and Durant out of the postseason in four games in the very first round.
Irving's trips back to Boston in the games he's played there since leaving have largely been defined by hostility from the Celtics crowd, which is likely to be the case once again this time, but it appears Irving is now more equipped to handle the hate and try to send a hush through the TD Garden.
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