Getty Nets star Kyrie Irving can't play games in New York City.
The New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets don’t have a lot of history together. But as crosstown foes, the two teams have developed a bitter rivalry, and thus so have their fans. During their matchup with the Knicks on April 6, as the Nets were heading to the locker room at halftime, a Knicks fan appeared to say something to Nets’ star Kyrie Irving that ruffled his feathers. It ruffled his feathers so much that Irving walked back to get in the fan’s face and appeared to ask him what he said before Madison Square Garden security intervened.
Kyrie Irving exchanged words with a Knicks fan at the end of the first half.
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Kyrie Irving Gets in Heated Exchange With Knicks Fan
Irving could be in hot water with the league for that exchange depending on what he said to the fan. The NBA has a strict policy against players directing obscene language toward fans. Just last month Nets star Kevin Durant was just fined $25,000 for his exchange with a fan where he told him to ‘shut the f*** up’. As a New Jersey native, Irving says that he can take the heckling that comes from fans of Eastern Conference teams because that is just the nature of the beast.
“East coast basketball at its finest. People just yelling random s–t from the crowd. Wanted a reaction, they got one,” Irving told reporters after the win per Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
“And I’ve dealt with just East Coast type of attitude since I was 7, 8 years old. So, I’ve been in the trenches, as they would say, growing up, playing in different boroughs, being a Jersey kid not getting respect from New York basketball until I just stopped giving an eff about what their opinion was.”
Kyrie Irving discusses his interaction with a fan at halftime, and apologizes:
“People just yelling random s–t from the crowd. They wanted a reaction, they got one. I think I tapped the wrong person…Somebody said something. I was just fed up with our performance”
Irving also apologized to the fan who he got in the face of. Not for any moral reason, but because it was the wrong person.
“I think I tapped the wrong person, so I apologize to the random guy that I tapped. He looked at me with a surprising look on his face. … Somebody said something and I was just fed up with our performance,” Irving said.
Steve Nash Sounds off on Nets Comeback Win
The Nets came into their matchup with the Knicks knowing that winning their final four games would secure them the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament and thus would only have to win one game to make the playoffs.
The Knicks, on the other hand, are staring down the barrel of the NBA Draft lottery after being the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference last season. As their crosstown rival, the Knicks were looking to play spoiler to the Nets. New York led by as many as 21 points in the 3rd quarter, but the combination of Irving and Durant proved to be too much, as the Nets came out with a 110-98 win over the Knicks. After the win, Nets head coach Steve Nash sounded off on his team’s performance.
“It was very unsatisfying for a while. I’m proud of the group. We didn’t play well in the first half. We didn’t give the requisite fight, spirit, or energy. We had some good looks but didn’t make them. I thought the second half, you can just see them take the challenge,” said Nash on the win per NetsDaily. “We needed all of it. We gave the effort in the second half that it takes and played a much better game.”
The Nets will wrap up the regular season this week with their final two games being against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers.
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