When Kyrie Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2017 from the Cleveland Cavaliers, it created so much drama in the Eastern Conference. Irving wanted to be the alpha, and he was just not going to get that status alongside LeBron James in Cleveland. A trade to the Celtics allowed him to reach that goal, but for two years in Beantown, Irving was not able to lead Boston to a dream championship.
Jayson Tatum speaks up on Kyrie Irving’s time with the Boston Celtics
His time with the Celtics even ended bitterly, with Boston fans holding a grudge against the future Hall of Fame point guard.
That said, Celtics star Jayson Tatum said that Irving wasn’t the reason Boston failed to win a title.
Via Tim MacMahon of ESPN:
“It wasn’t a Kyrie thing — it was all of us. We all took part in why that season wasn’t a success and we all learned from it. We all moved on. Some of us stayed here, other guys left and have done great things since that season. So I just look at that as a learning experience from my second year.”
This time around, Irving will truly be a big obstacle in the way of the Celtics and an NBA title. He has been playing well in the 2024 NBA Playoffs for the Dallas Mavericks and is expected to make things hard for Boston, which just swept the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. Irving is putting up 22.8 points, 5.2 dimes, and 3.9 boards per game while connecting on 48.5 percent of his field goal attempts and 42.1 percent of his 3-point shots, thus far in the playoffs.
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