Kyrie Irving, the Boston crowd and Game 2: Expect the same
Nets' Kyrie Irving, right, greets former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski before Game 2 of the Nets' NBA basketball first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Boston Celtics, Wednesday, April 20, 2022, in Boston. Credit: AP/Michael Dwyer
BOSTON — From the time that Kyrie Irving first stepped out of the locker room at TD Garden Sunday to start this opening-round playoff series the fans were loudly voicing their opinion on his return to Boston. And he had his say back at them, followed by the NBA having theirs with a $50,000 fine on him.
But as he took the court Wednesday night for Game 2 it was certain that the crowd wasn’t going to lighten its venom. And with 39 points in Game 1, the Nets were not concerned about how Irving would respond.
Asked if he hoped that with the fine imposed Irving would try to ignore the crowd this time, Nets coach Steve Nash shrugged.
"I don’t care. What did he have?” Nash said Wednesday following the Nets' morning shootaround of the 39-point effort in Sunday's game. "I’ll keep it at that.”
It’s with good reason that the Nets are not concerned. Between flashing obscene gestures at the fans and shouting profanity at them, Irving took over the game for much of the final three quarters, scoring 35 of his 39 points and helping Brooklyn overcome a 15-point third-quarter deficit. In the end they came up one point short as they dropped the opening game of the series, 115-114.
The crowd in Boston has been greeting Irving harshly since he departed for Brooklyn as a free agent in 2019 — months after he spoke at a Fan Appreciation Night before the start of the season and declared, “I do have a dream of putting my No. 11 in the rafters one day if I'm so blessed to do that, work my tail off. Obviously, a lot of great players have come before me, but to throw my name in Boston Celtics tradition and history is something I'm glad I could do.” He then left Boston and last year spoke about “subtle racism” from the fans in the city
Irving didn’t detail any racism after Game 1 but did talk openly about the profanity he heard from the crowd and wasn’t apologizing for his reaction.
“It’s nothing new when I come into this building what it’s going to be like,” Irving said after Sunday’s game. “But it’s the same energy they had for me, and [I'm going to] have the same energy for them. And it’s not every fan. I don’t want to attack every Boston fan, but when people start yelling [expletives] and all this other stuff, there’s only but so much you can take as a competitor, and we’re the ones expected to be docile and be humble and take a humble approach. Nah, [expletive] that. It’s the playoffs. This is what it is. I know what to expect in here, and it’s the same energy I’m giving back to them.”
Irving hasn’t spoken since that postgame news conference, but no one expects anything to change from the fans or Irving. Kevin Durant said Tuesday that this animosity is rooted in love, which certainly seems debatable in this case. But Irving’s teammates and coach think it’s just another night for Irving.
“That’s who he is every night,” Seth Curry said. “That performance is no different. He thrives in every situation, whether it’s a hostile environment or not. I think he had that interaction but was still able to focus on his game.”
“Everybody has different moods,” Durant said Tuesday. “Some days he might be up for it. Some days he might not. He understands what his job entails. We understand what the situation is. He might not be in the mood for it the next game. Who knows? It’s just a feel thing. You never know what may trigger you in the moment. Somebody say something to get you to react.
"NBA crowds in the playoffs tend to try to pick at players, especially ones that played for their team previously. We all understand that stuff. Kyrie’s reaction was his reaction. We are all still behind that, I feel exactly what he said. The same energy they are giving off to him, he’s going to give it right back. He played that way. I think it’s all in the game. They come for the experience of watching the game and you might have to get something back from one of the players if you say something. That’s just the nature of the beast, man.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
