Michael Holley: Kyrie Irving's time in Boston was 'Shakespearian ...
One of the biggest stories entering the 2024 NBA Finals was Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving facing off against the Boston Celtics, whom the eight-time All-Star played for from 2017-19.
Irving’s time in Boston started off well, as he was seen as the missing piece for a Celtics team that included young players Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and established veterans Marcus Smart and Al Horford. An injury derailed Irving’s first season, and by the time the 2019 season ended, it was clear Irving would be heading elsewhere in free agency. He signed with the Brooklyn Nets in July of 2019, and every time he returned to Boston, the fans would let him hear it, leading to multiple incidents.
Before the Finals started, Irving even noted that he “wasn’t his best self’” while with Boston and Brooklyn, but Celtics fans have been sure to remind him of their feelings throughout the series.
This week, Michael Holley joined Brandon Contes on the Awful Announcing Podcast. Holley, who has covered Boston sports in print, radio, or television since 1997, discussed many topics, including Irving’s Celtics tenure.
“It was like a Shakespearian tragedy because you see all the things it could have been,” Holley said about Irving’s rocky stint with the team. “I used to check every year after Kyrie left Boston; I’d check his assist totals and efficiency numbers and see if he topped that first year in Boston. That first year, he played some of the best basketball of his career.”
Holley discussed how Irving’s injury changed everything in the first season.
“He came in, and the city embraced him, and he embraced the city. He played the first 60 games, and he was awesome. Then he got hurt, and the team went to game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals without him. They thought they would go to the Finals way ahead of schedule and without Kyrie. And then it didn’t happen. When Kyrie comes back healthy, they expect to just resume where they were but the young guys were like ‘Hey, we went to Game 7, I don’t want to be a backup anymore’, so that team was the most dysfunctional teams of the Danny Ainge era.”
That was reflected by another story Holley shared. “Kyrie shut down on people. He shut down on his teammates. He shut down on the staff. Somebody told me the other day, and you’ll love this. I heard this from a good source. There was an assistant coach who used to keep a notebook of ‘How was Kyrie an a****** today?”
While Holley thinks there’s blame to go around, many of the issues could have been prevented if Irving had ‘relaxed and let things come to him.”
It appears the Celtics will have the last laugh on Irving, though, unless the Mavericks can become the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit.
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