How the ghosts of LeBron James and the Boston Celtics drive the Kyrie-Luka duo - ESPN

LONG BEFORE THESE Mavericks were anybody's pick to come out of the Western Conference, before they vanquished the Clippers and the Thunder and the Timberwolves to ascend to basketball's brightest stage for the first time in 13 years, Kyrie Irving had begun to reflect on his three-year tenure with LeBron James, his stint with the Boston Celtics and how those times had changed him.

«Back then I didn't know how to manage those personalities. I went into every day feeling like I have to be better than my teammates,» Irving told ESPN. «We were very, very competitive, and the one thing that I always instilled them when I first came there was: stop being afraid to challenge the other guys. That was something that we shared as younger players — we wanted to establish ourselves as a great team, so that's how we got started.»

All season he had been careful not to create distractions for himself or the Mavericks by revisiting his controversial past. Because as much as Irving's time in Dallas has offered him a fresh start, it's also been filled with mirrors to reflect upon his career.

His co-star with the Mavericks, Luka Doncic, is probably the closest facsimile in the NBA, in skill and role, to James, his former co-star with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

His head coach, Jason Kidd, was one of his basketball idols growing up in New Jersey.

«My dad took us to watch the Nets in the Finals when I was in fourth or fifth grade. We sat way up in the nosebleeds,» Irving said. «And seeing that up close, that's when I went home and wrote up in my closet so I'd see it every day: 'I am going to the NBA.'»

His general manager in Dallas, Nico Harrison, was one of his trusted business partners at Nike before Harrison left and Irving's relationship