The last time Kyrie Irving stepped onto the court at TD Garden, it wasn’t in the playoffs, the Mavericks star acknowledged.
Irving said Monday that an incident during the 2022 playoffs in which he gave the middle finger to Celtics fans while still a member of the Nets “doesn’t reflect well on who I am as a person.”
Irving and the Mavericks are preparing for Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Celtics later this week.
“When I played in the playoffs, people saw me giving the finger and losing my cool a little bit, and that’s not a good representation of who I am and how I want to compete at a high level,” Irving said.
“No matter what people were screaming, what it means to control your emotions in that environment, it didn’t reflect on me to the next generation. I was born to deal with these situations and I’ve grown since then.”
Irving was spotted taunting the TD Garden crowd at Game 1 of the 2022 Nets-Celtics series. He spent two seasons there before joining the team in 2019 to join Kevin Durant in Brooklyn.
Celtics fans haven’t forgotten Irving’s surprising exit, and he’s been Boston’s biggest villain ever since. This year, fans were seen yelling “Fuck Kylie!” After the Celtics swept the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Irving said he expects a “hectic environment” at TD Garden but is “looking forward to” the series getting underway on Thursday.
“I think it’s a healthy relationship with the fans,” Irving said. “It almost makes me think of ‘Gladiators,’ the crowd. I love that the TD Garden is quiet. When you’re playing well, the fans respect great basketball. So I have to lead a group that looks to me to be a voice of peace, regardless of whether there’s any attention on where I stand.”
“And then being able to control what I can control and help them out. The yelling and all that stuff, I would take the brunt of it. All the comments, but I’ve grown since then and realized I can handle things better, especially when I want to put the majority of my energy into playing well.”
Irving added that he hates getting into altercations with fans, although “it can be fun sometimes,” but said it’s a “waste of time and energy.”
The Mavericks star is averaging 22.8 points in this year’s playoffs while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range.
Irving scored 36 points in Game 5, marking the sixth time he has scored 30 or more points in a game this playoffs, helping the Mavs advance to the NBA Finals.
