Kyrie Irving didn’t play well in Boston.
But he has a chance to redeem himself in Game 5 Monday night.
The Celtics lead the Mavericks 3-1 in the NBA Finals but blew an opportunity to sweep in historical fashion — losing 122-84 — and gave Irving another shot at redemption against his old team, which he reminisced about prior to Game 5.
Irving admitted that he didn’t buy into Celtics culture after being traded there from Cleveland in 2017 following a request to be moved, according to The Athletic.
He referred to it as “cult that they have here,” and said he made a mistake because “you have to show your respect here.”
Irving also added that he, at first, struggled in Boston with “figuring out” how to be a great player “while winning championships and also leading a team and selflessly joining the Celtics’ organization or the cult that they have here.”
“That’s what they expect you to do as a player,” Irving said. “They expect you to seamlessly buy into the Celtics’ pride, buy into everything Celtics. And if you don’t, then you’ll be outed. I’m one of the people that’s on the outs (laughing). I’m perfectly fine with that, you know what I mean. I did it to myself. They don’t welcome me with a warm embrace, even though I know a lot of people in the organization and I’m friends still with some of them.”
Irving’s Celtic tenure ended after just two seasons.
In the first, he was his usual on-the-court self as one of the great individual isolation players of his generation, arguably the best ball-handler of his era and an All-Star for the fifth time of his then-seven-year career.
In 2017-18, Irving missed the rest of the season after a knee injury in March.
The Celtics — led by a rookie Jayson Tatum, a second-year Jaylen Brown, a prime Al Horford and a blossoming Terry Rozier — forced a Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals with LeBron James’ Cavaliers.
In the 2018-19 season, a lot was reported regarding the Celtics fractured locker room during the year, which ended in a disappointing second round finish against the Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
In the following offseason, Irving departed to join Kevin Durant and James Harden with the Nets, and in Boston, he’s been atop the public enemy list ever since, which has shown in these Finals.
Irving scored just 28 points on 13-of-37 shooting across the first two games of the Finals in Boston, where he was vehemently booed with every touch, as Celtic fans exuberantly cheered with every miss and turnover.
Irving has since bounced back, scoring 35 points in the Mavericks’ Game 3 loss before adding 21 on 56 percent shooting in their Game 4 blowout win.