Kyrie Irving’s Boston return stands out among NBA Finals storylines 

NBA

By Zach Braziller

There will almost certainly be vile chants directed at Kyrie Irving.

Venom unleashed by Celtics fans at the Mavericks star, who infamously told them he was going to re-sign with Boston, only to team up with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn instead.

It is the storyline of all storylines in the upcoming NBA Finals: Irving returning to Boston to face the Celtics as the villain, looking to win his second title, and the team standing in his way is a former one. 

“Boston’s in the way and in between our goals,” he said during an interview on TNT. 

Since bolting in the summer of 2019, the 32-year-old Irving has compared the angry Celtics fans to a scorned ex-girlfriend who still wants to know why her significant other left her. He has burned sage courtside to “cleanse the energy” of TD Garden.

He once stepped on the center court logo of Lucky The Leprechaun and gave Celtics fans the finger. 

Irving’s time with the Nets was mostly a flop, just one series victory in parts of four seasons there. He missed nearly the entire 2022 home schedule after his refusal to get vaccinated.

The Nets also suspended him when he was unwilling to “unequivocally say” he didn’t have antisemitic beliefs after posting a controversial movie link on Twitter. 

The team moved him to the Mavericks in February of 2023, and this year, he has excelled, forming a potent 1-2 punch with Luka Doncic. This postseason, he is averaging 22.8 points, 5.2 assists and shooting 42.1 from 3-point range, performing at his best with everything on the line. 

Now, he is going back to Boston as the enemy. All eyes will be on him and how he deals with the nonstop jeers.

Below, The Post takes a look at some of the other storylines in this series.

The Celtics are the favorite, but the Mavericks arguably will have the best player on the floor.

It’s hard to say anyone is playing at a higher level than Luka Doncic.

After a dominant regular season in which he averaged career-highs of 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, 37.5 minutes, and shot 38.2 percent from deep, the Slovenian superstar has enjoyed a brilliant postseason with six triple-doubles and 9.1 assists, the most of any player in the NBA’s season.

He made sure the Timberwolves didn’t have a rally in them, scoring 20 first-quarter points in the Western Conference finals-sealing blowout in Game 5 to lead the Mavericks to the finals in his sixth season in the league. 

It’s Boston’s most-talked-about calf, the one belonging to Kristaps Porzingis.

He suffered a right calf strain in Game 4 of the Celtics’ opening-round series against the Heat, and hasn’t played since.

His absence has left the Eastern Conference champions somewhat thin up front, but that may not be the case any longer.

Coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters on Friday that the sweet-shooting 7-foot-2 Latvian is “getting better,” and it sounds like he’s trending towards being available for Game 1 next Thursday.

Porzingis averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game this season, along with shooting a career-best 51.6 percent from the field, and brings another dimension to the Celtics.

There is also the added motivation of facing his former team, which traded him to the Wizards back in 2022. 

A local team hasn’t reached the NBA Finals since the Nets got there in 2002 and 2003, but there are plenty of connections to the two teams.

Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet of the Celtics and Tim Hardaway Jr. of the Mavericks are former Knicks and Dallas coach Jason Kidd once coached the Nets, and played for both locals.

The Nets helped set both of these teams up.

Remember, the ill-fated trade that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Celtics to the Nets in 2013 gave Boston the first-round picks to select Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in back-to-back years.

Plus, the Nets sent Kyrie Irving to Dallas last February in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and three future draft picks. Nets fans may shudder watching this series. 

Led by Tatum and Brown, the Celtics have been knocking on the door for a while now. They have reached the Eastern Conference finals six times in the last eight years.

This will be their second time in the NBA Finals in the last three seasons, and this group was hardly tested this postseason, winning 12 of 14 games. An argument can be made that Boston has been fortunate, facing the Heat in the first round without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, the injury-riddled Cavaliers in the second round, who were missing Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert by the end of the series, and in the conference finals, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton suffered a hamstring injury in Game 2 and didn’t return.

Of course, the Celtics were also without Porzingis after Game 4 against the Heat, and that hasn’t slowed them down. 

Still, this series will determine if this was a successful year for them. Expectations were that high. Tatum and Brown are young superstars who have reached a combined eight All-Star games. But they haven’t always shown up in big moments, highlighted by a disappointing seven-game series loss to the No. 8 seed Heat in the conference finals a year ago.

They both are having strong playoffs, doing it at both ends of the floor, albeit against overwhelmed opponents. Now, the bright lights really will be turned up.

That hasn’t always been a good thing for Tatum and Brown.