Mavs’ Kyrie Irving reflects on Celtics tenure: ‘I wasn’t my best self’

Dallas Mavericks talisman Kyrie Irving admitted he wasn’t his best self when he played for the Boston Celtics. Irving played two seasons for the Celtics before departing in free agency to join his friend Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets during the 2019 offseason.

Irving was not known to keep control of his emotions, which led to his criticism but he has significantly learned from his failures.

“I think I’m better at consolidating kind of the emotions now or being aware of what it’s going to be like,” Irving said after the Mavericks’ Monday practice. “We call it animosity, we call it hate, we call it, ‘It’s going to be hell in Boston.’ I mean, there are real, live circumstances going on in the world that are bigger than the basketball, kind of the competitive side of things and answering those questions.

“But I will say last time in Boston, I don’t think that was the best — not this regular season, but when we played in the playoffs and everyone saw me flip off the birds and kind of lose my s— a little bit — that wasn’t a great reflection of who I am and how I like to compete on a high level. It wasn’t a great reflection on my end towards the next generation on what it means to control your emotions in that type of environment, no matter what people are yelling at you.

“I’m built for these moments, to be able to handle circumstances like that, and I’ve been able to grow since then. So of course it’s going to be a hectic environment, but I’m looking forward to it and I see it as a healthy relationship that I have with the fans. I almost think about ‘Gladiator,’ just winning the crowd over. It is good to hear the TD Garden silent when you’re playing well. They still respect great basketball.”

Meanwhile, Irving received a lot of criticism from fans during his stint with the Boston Celtics but he feels a little more grace could have been extended towards him, considering after all, he is human.

“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. “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 when 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.”

The first game of the NBA finals will be played on Thursday.