He was good in the first-round sweep of the Pacers, but in the second round against Milwaukee, he shot just 35.6 percent from the field and 21.9 percent from 3-point range. Yet when he finally got the chance to play in the postseason for Boston, he was a dud. Kyrie Irving's performance with Cleveland in the 2016 playoffs was one of the biggest selling points on the Celtics acquiring him. "They didn't know for a fact where it was, but it was somewhere."Ī book released in 2021 also noted that Durant and Irving had spent time together in January of 2019 discussing their forming of a new super team. That's when it was solidified that we were going somewhere," Durant said in 2020. "The All-Star game video where they caught us in the hallway. Durant later confirmed that the meeting at the All-Star Game was exactly what it looked like. I guess that's what you wanted, huh?"ĭespite Irving's protests. Nobody helps promote the league even more by doing bulls- like that, of just fictitious putting things on what we're talking about. This is the stuff that just doesn't make the league fun. And then it turns out to be a dissection of a free-agency meeting? Do you get that? Like, do you get that? And then I'm asked questions about that? That's what disconnects me from all that s-." It's not anybody's business," Irving said in a scolding tone. "It's a video of me and one of my best friends talking. "What I do with my life is my business, so it's none of yours, it's none of anybody's. Even though the wacky NBA rules prevented the Celtics from signing Irving until after the season, the superstar grabbed a microphone and stated that he fully intended to be in Boston for the long term. Before the 2018-19 season, at a season-ticket holder event at the TD Garden, Irving made a proclamation to the fans in attendance. OCTOBER 2018: THE PROMISE Kyrie Irving in October 2018 (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)Įssentially, the entire saga of Kyrie and the city of Boston hinges on this moment. Yet in retrospect, failing to even show up when your team is playing in Game 7 of the conference finals? That's a red flag if there ever was one. deviated septum.Īt the time, his absence was brushed off and downplayed, because it's not as if he really could have helped the team win the game. Instead of being on the bench as his new team battled his old team, Irving was in New Jersey, recovering from surgery to fix his. The Celtics dropped Game 6 in Cleveland, setting up a Game 7 at home, with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line. Without him, though, the Celtics went on an improbable postseason run, taking a 3-2 series lead over LeBron James and the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals. Irving's first season in Boston ended in early March, forcing him to be a spectator for the final 15 games of the regular season. THE CAVS LeBron James talks with Jayson Tatum after Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals. He had already been a fan favorite to that point, and he was even more beloved by Boston after all of that. He was also playing amid a personal tragedy that postseason, after his sister died in a car crash. Isaiah Thomas basically sacrificed his career by playing through a serious hip injury in the 2017 playoffs. So help sort it all out - or, most of it, hopefully - here's a recap.ĪUGUST 2017: THE TRADE Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) Over time, some of that history has been clouded, because frankly, there's a lot of it. it kind of does.Īnd with the Celtics and Nets prepping to square off in the NBA's most interesting first-round playoff series, the history of Kyrie and the Celtics is sure to come up a time or two in the coming days and weeks. That's just a collection of proper nouns.
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