Boston Celtics fans were all over Kyrie Irving on Sunday and the Brooklyn Nets guard eventually reached a breaking point.
Irving ultimately gave it back to Green Teamers in attendance at TD Garden, which included giving the middle finger to his former fanbase more than once. The star point guard defended his actions after the Celtics’ Game 1 victory, explaining he was going to match the energy he received from Boston fans.
Richard Jefferson, who won an NBA championship with Irving in Cleveland back in 2016, believes that’s a poor approach. The 17-year veteran on Monday explained why he was “disappointed” in his former Cavaliers teammate.
“Kyrie has seen everything,” Jefferson said on ESPN’s “NBA Today.” “The b-word, the p-word, all of these words we’ve seen since we were in high school, we’ve seen since we were in college. So to sit up there — and I respect Kyrie and I understand his intensity — but there’s kids back there. Now mind you, that is not your responsibility. But the minute you do that, there are little kids back there that aren’t doing anything. While there are fans back there saying these things, that’s out of your control. You control what you can control on the court and off the court. So to do that and have kids sitting behind you — you saw in that video there’s a kid’s reaction like, ‘Oh, my god.’ Like, as players, we can’t meet the fans’ energy the same way.”
“You saw what Trae Young did in the Garden, where the whole crowd was doing everything. You know what Trae Young did? Trae Young took a bow. Trae Young took a bow and Trae Young hasn’t even been in a quarter of the situations that Kyrie has been when you’re talking about intense basketball. So, I understand this is going to be an emotional situation for Kyrie and even Boston fans. But ultimately Kyrie has to be better, fans have to be better. But I just implore all players to understand that when you’re reacting, you’re not just reacting to that fan. You’re reacting to the kids, the women, all the men that are sitting around there as innocent bystanders and I just don’t think that’s positive for our league.”
Time will tell if we see a more stoic Irving for the remainder of the best-of-seven series. He’ll be surrounded by Celtics supporters again Wednesday night when the Atlantic Division rivals meet for Game 2.
