Kyrie Irving downplays his return to Boston for NBA Finals

BOSTON -- Kyrie Irving is heading back to Boston to play the Celtics with an NBA title on the line. That storyline alone will carry the narrative as we wait nearly a week for the NBA Finals to tip off at TD Garden.

Irving facing off against his former team -- and a fanbase that reallllllllly doesn't like him -- is the kind of storyline that would make professional wrestling jealous. Once seen as a potential savior for the Celtics, Irving is now one of the biggest villains to Boston fans, taking his seat at the table next to Alex Rodriguez and Roger Goodell, among many others. 

Hope was high when Danny Ainge acquired Irving in August of 2017, adding him to Al Horford and the newly-signed Gordon Hayward. That trio was supposed to lead Boston to glory in the years before Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were ready to take over, but that plan went awry when Hayward was hurt just minutes into the season. 

An injury ended Irving's first season in Boston ahead of the playoffs, and it was the youngsters who helped lead the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Kyrie said that he planned to re-sign with the Celtics ahead of the following season, but things went south fast and the relationship between Irving and Boston fans soured quickly.

When he left via free agency that following summer, Irving became enemy No. 1 to green teamers. He's been met with boos and taunts whenever he touches the ball in Boston, and hasn't helped matters by engaging with fans and stomping on the Celtics logo at midcourt.

So all eyes (and ears) will be on Irving and Boston fans over the next week leading up to the championship showdown between the Celtics and the Mavs.  But in his first chance to address the upcoming matchup, Irving downplayed his return to Boston.

In the moments following Dallas' Western Conference-clinching victory over the Timberwolves on Thursday night, Irving was asked if he was looking forward to returning to Boston.

"Yeah, absolutely. Boston is in the way between our goal," Irving said on the floor in Minnesota. "So that's it."

Irving expanded on that a bit when he joined Scott Van Pelt on ESPN. But he again downplayed any issues, saying that his problems with the Celtics and Boston fans are in the past. Irving is now a man of the present, and his focus is on winning his second title.

"I'm in a place in my life where I don't even consider those past moments," Irving told ESPN. "I was able to unpack them in a healthy way and move forward as a person. I had a rough time there when I was in Boston, just dealing with death in my family and dealing with a lot of off-court stuff that I wasn't ready to handle. So now I'm in a great place to be able to vocalize how I'm feeling. I'm ready to go back to Boston and have fun with my teammates."

So Irving isn't about to stoke those flames. At least not yet. That will likely change after he steps on the floor for Game 1 and hears it again from Boston fans. He also doesn't have much to say, given Irving has lost 10 straight games to the Celtics over the last three seasons. 

It's nice to hear that Irving is in a better place right now, but there's not enough sage in the world that will protect him from the wrath of Boston fans when the NBA Finals tip off Thursday night.