After the Mavericks officially clinched a spot against the Celtics in the NBA Finals, at least part of the conversation inevitably moved to the Kyrie Irving-Boston subplot.
Irving, 32, will be returning to face the team that he played for from 2017-2019. It’s not the first time he has faced the Celtics since departing as a free agent, and not even the first time he’s played in a postseason series in Boston. Yet due to the negative perception surrounding his time with the team (and subsequent exit), Irving’s reaction to facing the Celtics was always going to be an intriguing postgame moment.