Kyrie Irving: Nets Are 'Uniting the Whole World' with Title Run After Win vs. Celtics

Kyrie Irving thinks the Brooklyn Nets' run to a championship will have a major effect on the rest of the league.

"We uniting the whole world with this championship run, so I hope everybody is with us," he told YES Network's Michael Grady after the Nets eliminated the Boston Celtics with a 123-109 win Tuesday night. (h/t Michael Scotto of HoopsHype). "We uniting the whole world with this run. Stick with us, baby."

The Nets took the first-round series, four games to one.

One thing is for sure: The Celtics aren't likely to hop on the Nets train, and even if they hadn't fallen in Game 5, Irving's actions throughout the series probably would have put them off anyway.

There's already some bad blood stemming from Irving's tenure in Boston with him verbally committing to re-sign with the team and then, almost as quickly as he joined the squad via trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers, moving on.

He made his TD Garden return over the weekend, having missed the Nets' previous trips to the city, and was booed by the fans.

In preparation for his return, Irving said he hoped he would avoid "belligerence [and] subtle racism" at TD Garden, a concern that Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said he hadn't heard any player—including Irving—express in the past.

One member of the crowd was arrested for throwing a water bottle at Irving on Sunday. 

After that game, his best of the series, Irving appeared to stomp on the Celtics logo at halfcourt, a move that prompted criticism from Hall of Famer and Celtics legend Kevin Garnett.

The Nets will move on to either unite or alienate the Milwaukee Bucks, who swept the Miami Heat in their first-round series.