Boston Celtics head coach had not yet weighed in on the incidents involving Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving after Boston’s Game 4 loss at TD Garden on Sunday.
Irving, as you probably have heard by now, stepped on the Celtics midcourt logo prior to leaving the floor and then, while about to walk through the tunnel, had a water bottle thrown at him. That water bottle reportedly was tossed by a 21-year-old Celtics fan, who since has been arrested and dealt with.
Stevens was asked about both incidents — the logo and the water bottle — and responded while on a pregame video conference before Game 5 on Tuesday night.
“With regard to Kyrie, I just think the other day, I just echo what (Marcus) Smart and Jayson (Tatum) said — the bottle throwing just is unacceptable,” Stevens said. “It’s not part of the game. It’s not the way that anybody in the stadium, 99.9 percent of people in the stadium — want to be represented. And it’s just unacceptable.
“I’m glad that it was handled accordingly, but just like a lot of these incidents happening across the league, I agree with those, (I) understand fans can bring a great deal of passion and rightfully so, but its got to be in the confines of being rightfully respectable and recognizing that these guys are out there giving their all for their team,” Stevens continued. “And regardless the team you’re cheering for or not, they should be treated with dignity and respect. And throwing something at somebody is not OK.”
Regardless of how you feel about Irving’s logo antics — and opinions certainly seem to differ — for the Celtics fan to react that way was bad and extremely disappointing to a majority of the 17,000-plus fans who welcomed the C’s back to TD Garden.
Now, the Celtics look to turn the page as they hope to stave off elimination in Game 5 from the Barclays Center on Tuesday.
