Why Boston Celtics fans are booing Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving during NBA Finals

Kyrie Irving is back in the NBA Finals and the Boston Celtics are the only thing standing between him and his second championship.

Irving has come a long way from his time in Boston. In Dallas, he paired with Luka Doncic to form one of the league’s best backcourts and led the Mavericks to the Finals.

Five years after his ugly exit from Boston, Irving reflected on his time with the Celtics.

“I know sometimes in sports, it’s literally about the end goal and result and what you accomplish, and that’s one thing,” Irving said during the Mavericks’ practice on Monday. “But we’re still human at the end of the day. I wasn’t my best self during that time. When I look back on it, I just see it as a time where I learned how to let go of things and learned how to talk through my emotions.

“It was just a chapter in my life that I got to enjoy for the most part. We had a great opportunity to do some special things, but it was cut short, just based off personal reasons on my end. One thing I look back on my time in Boston — I’ve said this over the past few years, but somehow it gets tossed under the rug — but the greatest thing I learned from Boston was just being able to manage not only my emotions or just what’s going on on a day-to-day basis of being a leader of a team or being one of the leaders, and having young guys around you that have their own goals, but you have to learn how to put the big picture first.”

Here’s a recap of Irving’s history with the Celtics.

August 2017: Traded to the Celtics

In August 2017, the Celtics acquired Irving in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics sent fan-favorite Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and an unprotected first-round pick to Cleveland for Irving.

2018: Misses first playoff run

Irving made an immediate impact with the Celtics, averaging a team-high 24.4 points and 5.1 assists in his first season in Boston. However, a knee injury kept Irving out of the postseason.

Without Irving, a rookie Jayson Tatum and second-year player Jaylen Brown led the Celtics to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, where they lost to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

October 2018: The promise

Irving entered the 2018-19 season on an expiring contract. During a season-ticket holder event at TD Garden, Irving picked up a microphone and made a promise to Celtics fans.

“If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here,” Irving said to a cheering crowd.

February 2019: ‘I don’t owe anybody’

By February that same season, Irving had changed his tone.

Irving was asked if he still intended to re-sign with the Celtics in free agency.

“Ask me July 1,” Irving said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to do what’s best for me and my career... I don’t owe anybody.”

February 2019: Meeting with Kevin Durant

During NBA All-Star weekend later that February, a video leaked of Irving and then-Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant meeting in the hallway.

Durant later admitted on his podcast that meeting was when he and Irving “solidified that we were going somewhere.”

Irving was also asked about the exchange.

“What I do with my life is my business, so it’s none of yours, it’s none of anybody’s. It’s not anybody’s business,” Irving said. “It’s a video of me and one of my best friends talking. 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.”

July 2019: Signs with Brooklyn

Irving joined forces with Durant and signed a four-year, $142 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason, ending his tenure with the Boston Celtics.

December 2020: Burning sage

Irving didn’t make his return to Boston until the 2020-21 season after missing his first trip in 2019 due to an injury.

The December 2020 preseason game between the Nets and Celtics had no fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before tipoff, Irving circled the court waving around a burning substance that appeared to be sage. Later, he said he did it to “cleanse the energy” in the arena.

May 2021: Booed in Boston

Irving played his first game in front of the TD Garden crowd during the 2021 postseason.

Prior to Game 3 in Boston, Irving said he hoped fans would keep any jeers or insults strictly to basketball with “no belligerence or any racism going on.”

Fans booed Irving all game long any time he touched the ball. They cheered every time Irving missed a shot.

“It’s basketball. I’ve been in a few environments in my life,” Irving said after the game. “As long as there’s nothing extra, I’m cool with it.”

May 2021: Stomping on Lucky

The intensity heightened the next game of the series.

Irving rebounded well from a rough Game 3, scoring 39 points and 11 rebounds in the Nets’ Game 4 win. However, things turned ugly afterward.

After the final buzzer sounded, Irving high-fived his teammates and then stomped on the Celtics’ logo at center court. Shortly after that as he was exiting the court, a water bottle was thrown in Irving’s direction right before he exited the tunnel. A fan at TD Garden was arrested for allegedly throwing the drink at Irving.

“People just feel very entitled out here,” Irving said after the game. “They paid for the tickets. Great. I’m grateful they’re coming in to watch a great performance. But we’re not at the theatre. We’re not throwing tomatoes and other random stuff at the people that are performing. It’s too much. And it’s a reflection on us as a whole”

April 2022: Irving flips off Celtics fans

Irving and the Nets met Boston again in the first round of the 2022 playoffs.

Irving played well in Game 1, leading all scorers 39 points. However, he was clearly agitated with Celtics fans.

Fans booed Irving all game and eventually, he was caught flipping the middle finger to fans several times.

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