Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers and continues to express his sheer happiness in joining the Boston Celtics. The All-Star point guard has thrown a few jabs at his former team and continued to do so while speaking with reporters prior to Wednesday's preseason win over the Charlotte Hornets. Irving discussed his elation about playing in Boston since he believes it's more lively than Cleveland, per Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
"Coming from Cleveland, the Midwest, where the culture is different. And then you move to the East Coast — into Boston — and it’s so real [and] alive. An ongoing, thriving city. Consistently. No matter what hour throughout the night."
“You would go to Cleveland, and it would be at nighttime, and things would be going on, but you just see a vast difference in terms of what the Midwest is — Cleveland — and what Boston is. Boston, I’m driving in and [thinking], ‘I’m really playing in a real, live sports city?’ And a great city.”
Irving spent the first six years of his NBA career with the Cavaliers before deciding to leave, but it sounds like he already feels at home and is ecstatic to be with the Celtics. Boston does have a rich sports history with the Celtics winning 17 championships, along with the Boston Red Sox's eight World Series titles and the New England Patriots winning five Super Bowls since 2001.
The Cleveland sports scene doesn't quite compare in terms of titles, but LeBron James helped reignite the Cavaliers giving them their first NBA championship in 2016, and the Cleveland Indians have been making some noise. Still the Wine and Gold faithful will likely let Irving hear it when he returns to the Quicken Loans Arena for the 2017-18 season opener between the Cavs and Celtics on Oct. 17.
Source: bleacherreport.com
