Will Kyrie Irving become the story of the NBA Finals?

BOSTON, MA — It’s hard to blame Celtics fans for going there. Kyrie Irving doesn’t either.

As the NBA Finals loom — a matchup against a Mavericks franchise only loosely connected to Boston between the long-ago Rajon Rondo trade and Grant Williams’ departure last summer — everyone wants to talk about Irving. Will it define the Finals? The discourse, civil or otherwise, is as large as any question on the floor.

Even the ever-focused Al Horford took a moment at Friday’s practice to give the Boston crowd his seal of approval to be themselves regarding Irving.

“Our fans, they care about the Celtics. They care about Boston,” Horford told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog. “When he left, it wasn’t ideal for everyone here. So, I know the fans, it’s the Finals, regardless of who’s coming in and who’s not, it’s gonna be lively. It’s gonna be exciting. It’s gonna be loud. TD Garden’s gonna be ready to go. It’s those environments you want to play in … this is the big stage. I don’t expect anything less from our fans. Our fans are gonna be who they are and that’s what it is.”

While both sides have embraced the environment ahead, Irving expressing to The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn and myself in March that Celtics fans have a right to boo him and it’s part of the game, Irving and his former Boston teammates have mostly moved on. After Boston fans chanted ‘F Kyrie’ while celebrating the East finals victory, the Celtics franchise has also moved well past Irving’s departure. NBC Sports Boston’s Drew Carter mentioned Dallas, as an organization, having more animosity toward Kristaps Porzingis as this point than Boston has toward Irving in his Garden Report appearance.

Part of the pain left by Irving (and Horford’s) departure was Boston seemingly fading into near irrelevancy by 2021. Irving fanned the flames with the Lucky stomp and pointed comments toward the city and fans — but what hurt most was that the Celtics weren’t close to his Nets. Now, they’re significant favorites over Irving’s Mavericks.

“Every time we got within close, it seemed like they would hit two threes or three threes and create separation, and get to the free throw line,” Irving said after Boston beat Dallas 138-110 back in March. “They’ve been showing it all season and for the past few seasons. They’ve been showing how good of a team they are, together, and how well…