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- Former Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving got into it with the Boston crowd on Sunday night.
- Irving was seen giving fans the middle finger and pretending to cry.
- The Inside The NBA crew wasn’t all that impressed with Irving’s Game 1 behavior.
After forcing his way out of Cleveland, NBA title-winning point guard Kyrie Irving landed in Boston, a city where both he and the Celtics fanbase thought the next epic chapter of his career would be written. And while Irving ultimately did contribute to his legacy in Boston, it wasn’t in the way he likely hoped, as the mercurial star ultimately left the city on bad terms.
Kyrie has returned to Boston a few times since then but arguably none of the visits have been as emotionally charged as Sunday night’s first-round playoff matchup that saw Irving’s 7th-seeded Nets take on Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Browns, and the #2 seed Boston Celtics.
Things got particularly heated in the second half as Kyrie, who kept the Nets in the game, was directly taunting the TD Garden faithful:
Kyrie gives the Boston crowd the middle finger after a tough make 🖕 pic.twitter.com/7pVQYPJrR2
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) April 17, 2022
Kyrie messing around with the heckling Celtics fans 😅 pic.twitter.com/DViIXTIYH0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 17, 2022
Kyrie gots no chill.ðŸ˜ðŸ’€ #BKNvsBOS https://t.co/46KlosgqNN
— lil kennedy (@t0mm3333) April 17, 2022
Inside The NBA crew reacts to Kyrie Irving’s Game 1 behavior
Speaking after the game, the Inside The NBA crew of Shaq, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley weren’t too thrilled with Irving’s antics and warned that his actions will only ratchet up the intensity of Game 2 on Wednesday night:
“Most of the fans are amazing. Some of them are going to say some rude stuff. Please stop with you athletes today whining like little… Come on, man,” an exasperated Barkley said.
"You know what's going to happen in Game 2? They're going to be talking more smack."@SHAQ & Chuck weigh in on Kyrie Irving's postgame comments & exchanges with Celtics fans. pic.twitter.com/llmSvuBK4y
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 18, 2022
Despite the pressure from the hostile Boston crowd, Irving was the Nets’ best player and arguably the best player on the court in Game 1 as he put up 39 points, six assists, and five rebounds.
Game 2 of the first-round series between the Celtics and Nets will take place at Boston’s TD Garden on Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST. Irving, Kevin Durant, and the Brooklyn Nets trail 1-0 in the series following Jayson Tatum’s buzzer-beating, game-winning layup on Sunday night.