Nick Wright isn’t one to side with the Celtics — or their fans — but even he has an issue with how Kyrie Irving conducted himself Sunday in Boston’s thrilling Game 1 win over the Brooklyn Nets at TD Garden.
Not because of Irving’s questionable antics, per se. But because Irving refuses to acknowledge there’s legitimate reasoning behind Celtics fans not liking him very much.
“The last thing I want to do is sit here and defend Boston sports fans,” Wright said on Monday’s episode of “First Things First” on FS1. “That is not my brand. That is not what I believe in. I have been at TD Garden watching a Cavs playoff game once upon a time, Mother’s Day 2018. Me and my pal Bomani Jones took the drive — my wife’s still at me for that — to go watch Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. I got called a lot of those same things, too. Your old buddy Nick Wright, not that popular at TD Garden. But guess what? I wasn’t shocked by it. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ve kinda been poking these fans in the eye for the better part of five years. They’re probably not a big fan of mine.’
“And I don’t even care that Kyrie flips people off. It’s childish. It’s not what you’re supposed to do. What I care about is the, ‘Where does all this come from? What have I ever done? Why can’t we just move on?’ “
Irving talked before Game 1 about moving on and not paying attention to the extra noise surrounding his return to Boston. Yet the Nets star just couldn’t help himself. He flipped off the crowd and yelled an obscenity at a fan Sunday — reactions he tried to rationalize as being a reciprocation of the energy C’s fans were showing toward him.
“We’re the ones who are expected to be docile and be humble and take a humble approach,” Irving told reporters after the game. “Nah, (expletive) that. It’s the playoffs. It is what it is.”
To his credit, Irving was excellent in Game 1, seemingly feeding off the drama en route to scoring a game-high 39 points and nearly carrying the Nets to a series-opening win. But Jayson Tatum’s buzzer-beating layup, off an excellent feed from Marcus Smart, lifted the Celtics to victory, and now we’re left to wonder whether Irving’s back-and-forth with the crowd will continue Wednesday night in Game 2.
All told, it seems Irving wants to be the bad guy — but with a great deal of finger pointing, rather than just leaning into the role.
“Just own it. You want to be this villain, that’s fine,” Wright said Monday. “Don’t act all surprised that these drunk Celtics fans are cursing at you. C’mon, man.”
