One of the biggest storylines in the 2024 NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics is Kyrie Irving facing his former team. More than the history between Irving and the Celtics, however, there is also the fact that the superstar guard has largely struggled in his recent battles against the Green Team.
Irving played for the Celtics for two seasons from 2017 to 2019 after forcing his way out of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Obviously, his stint with the franchise didn’t go very well, as they were unable to have the postseason success that many expected when he joined the C’s.
The Celtics faithful have a clear animosity towards Irving, and that’s expected to come out again once the NBA Finals series starts on Thursday.
Having said that, Boston will enter the game brimming with confidence as they face their former star player alongside his new star running mate in Luka Doncic. After all, Irving himself has seemed to struggle in recent years whenever he faces the Celtics.
In fact, in the last 10 matches he has faced the Celtics, Irving has yet to win a game. That record goes back to the 2021-22 season, during which Irving and his Brooklyn Nets were swept by the Beantown Team in the first round of the 2022 playoffs. During that season, Irving also played in just one regular season game against the Jayson Tatum-led squad and lost.
As for the Mavericks, they lost their two games against the Celtics this 2023-24 season, including a 28-point blowout at the beginning of March.
While it’s certainly not encouraging to see how much Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks have struggled against the Celtics, it’s also worth noting that Dallas is a different team now compared to the squad that Boston blew out.
For one, despite having the same roster early in March, the Mavericks were actually still figuring out how to integrate both PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford at the time. They were far from the complete team that they imagined when they retooled during the trade deadline.
Secondly, the Mavericks were actually one of the best teams to end the season, winning 16 of their final 20 games. Obviously that trend continued, as they punched their ticket to the NBA Finals despite being the fifth seed in the tough Western Conference.
And if we’re talking about stats, it should be acknowledged as well that the Mavericks are the first team since the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers to beat three 50-win teams en route to the Finals. As hoops fans would know, the Purple and Gold won the title that year … also against the Celtics.
Furthermore, Luka Doncic has been the best player so far in the entire 2024 NBA Playoffs. He is averaging 28.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists in the postseason. The Slovenian is doing it all for Dallas, and after being battle-tested throughout the West, he and Irving should be more than ready to face a more talented Celtics squad.
Of course it won’t be an easy battle for the Mavericks, but if the Celtics are expecting that their dominance against Irving will continue, they might be in for a big surprise.
