Getty Kyrie Irving (left) and Kevin Garnett
A game after struggling at TD Garden, Kyrie Irving turned in a vintage performance on Sunday night, dropping 39 points on 11-of-24 shooting to help lift the Brooklyn Nets to a 141-126 win in Game 4 of their first-round series against the Boston Celtics.
But that was only the beginning of Irving’s night.
Things stayed interesting even after the clock ran out. As the Nets were exchanging high-fives near center court following their win, Irving walked toward Boston’s logo and stomped on the face of “Lucky.” Not long after that, a fan threw a water bottle at Irving, who played for the Celtics for two seasons prior to joining Brooklyn. The two incidents did not appear to be related. The fan was subsequently arrested and banned from TD Garden.
The fan’s actions were universally panned, to no surprise. But as for Irving’s logo-stomping, reactions were mixed.
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Kevin Garnett Miffed at Irving
Former Celtics star Kevin Garnett was vocal about his frustration with Irving.
“So nobody gonna say anything about Kyrie stomping ‘Lucky?’” Garnett wrote in a post on his Instagram account the morning after the game. “We just gonna act like we didn’t see that … TF going on.
“You can’t do that. That’s not coo on no level .. All of us need to be better frfr … I’m just sayin.”
Kevin Garnett did not like Kyrie Irving stomping on the Celtics logo.
Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who played for the Celtics from 2007-11, felt a similar way about what Irving did.
“Real bulls***,” Davis wrote in a post on Instagram. “Like I said you step on lucky you step on everybody that played for that team. Keep the s*** basketball before somebody get hurt in real life.”
Nets star Kevin Durant defended his teammate, replying to Davis’ post by using 47 laughing emojis, as if to dismiss Davis’ comment.
Kevin Durant and Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis were going at it on IG after Kevin Garnett’s comments about Kyrie Irving stepping on the Celtics logo. 🤣
Fans at TD Garden constantly pelted Irving with disparaging chants during Games 3 and 4. Irving had expected as much.
“Im just looking forward to competing with my teammates and hopefully, we can just keep it strictly basketball. There’s no belligerence or racism going on, subtle racism or people yelling s*** from the crowd,” Irving said after Game 2, via SNY. “But even if it is, it’s part of the nature of the game and we’re just going to focus on what we can control.”
Kyrie Irving discusses returning to Boston for the first time in front of a crowd since his departure from the Celtics:
“Hopefully we can just keep it strictly basketball. There’s no belligerence or any racism going on, subtle racism or people yelling s— from the crowd”
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Kendrick Perkins Has Kyrie’s Back
Not everyone was outraged by Irving stomping on the Celtics logo.
“In my opinion the performance that Kyrie put on tonight in the Garden he deserved to celebrate however he pleased…long as it didn’t cause no harm to nobody,” ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins tweeted shortly after the game.
Jeff your my guy but I can’t roll with you on this one! In my opinion the performance that Kyrie put on tonight in the Garden he deserved to celebrate however he pleased…long as it didn’t cause no harm to nobody. Just saying tho…
And just because Irving did show some disrespect toward the Celtics, that didn’t justify a fan throwing a water bottle at him, as Perkins illustrated in a tweet Monday.
Are we really discussing this right now? That damn fan shouldn’t have never threw a water bottle at Kyrie I don’t give damn if he poured Gatorade on the Logo. Real Talk!
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