Kyrie hoping for warmer reception from Cs fans: Time to 'move forward'

After nearly three years of boos from Celtics fans, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving hopes the Boston faithful can begin to look at his time with the club a little more positively.

"I just hope we can move past my Boston era and just reflect on some of the highlights I left at TD Garden that they can replay," Irving told MassLive's Brian Robb and Souichi Terada ahead of Sunday's Game 1 against the Celtics. "And, just move forward. New paradigm, baby."

During the 2019 offseason, Irving went back on a preseason promise to re-sign with the Celtics in order to join the Nets. He's also irked fans by stomping on the team's center court logo last postseason and comparing them to a "scorned girlfriend" last month. However, Irving believes it's time to move on.

"It's been three years now," he added Friday. "Hopefully, probably by the fourth year or after this series, we can be done talking about the past and what happened there."

But although Irving's hoping for a warmer reception, the 30-year-old star wants to stay focused on his team's matchup with the Celtics.

"For me, I definitely don't want to focus on anything other than what's going on with our team," Irving said. "Don't want to focus on the fans, don't want to focus on any of the extra stuff outside of my control. The environment's going to be the environment. ... It's just going in there with a sharp focus, fearless attitude, and just stay to our team principles, just live with the results."

Irving played two seasons with the Celtics, who acquired him from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017. He averaged 24.1 points, 6.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 127 games with Boston. Irving also made two All-Star appearances and earned All-NBA second-team honors during his Celtics tenure.