Here’s what Kyrie Irving wants from Celtics fans in latest return to TD Garden originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
There’s no denying that in two seasons with the Boston Celtics, Kyrie Irving balled out.
Irving owns the best player efficiency rating (24.6) in franchise history and is third in points per game at 24.1, behind only Isaiah Thomas and Larry Bird.
Due back at TD Garden once again with the Brooklyn Nets this weekend for the beginning of the postseason, Irving seems to be of the mindset that Celtics fans should be remembering some of his highlights during his 127 regular season games in green.
It’s a unique way of thinking from Irving, who’s certainly no stranger to such.
Irving is the same player who once addressed a TD Garden crowd by saying “If you’ll have me, I plan on re-signing here…” only to sign with the Nets the following summer.
For a franchise which boasts 17 championships, Irving never got beyond the second round of the postseason with the Celtics; when Boston went to the Eastern Conference finals in 2018 against Irving’s former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie missed the entire postseason due to injury…and was nowhere to be found at TD Garden for Game 7 against the Cavs, if you’re keeping score.
There was also Irving’s infamous stomping of the center court logo at TD Garden last spring, lest we forget.
Dwelling on Irving’s broken promise and subsequent exit won’t do Celtics fans any good, of course, but for someone who claims to have moved on, Irving sure seems to reference his past in Boston quite a bit.