After the Celtics defeated the Mavericks 138-110 at TD Garden on Friday night, Kyrie Irving suffered his tenth consecutive defeat. During a 9-of-23 shooting night, Boston fans delighted in observing the former Celtic’s struggles, booing him every time he touched the ball. Irving put up 19 points in just 36 minutes, but he didn’t seem to mind the hate he still had to endure from Boston supporters following the game.
Irving stated, “They have a right to boo.” “They have every right to keep booing until I defeat them, based on my career record against them in the previous few games. That, in my opinion, is what makes competitive sports and their antics entertaining. You just have to accept it. It is a component of it.
Irving is still close with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, two of his former Celtics teammates. Even though Irving left the team five years ago, the All-Star team attempted to maintain objectivity when it came to the fan response following the game.
To be honest, Brown didn’t have any thoughts on the matter. “The fans follow their own path and have their own motivations.” Every player, even the top players, who enters our arena ought to be jeered, in my opinion. That would be nice to see. Boo them too when Jokic and all these other players enter the game. Perhaps it makes a difference.
Tatum encouraged everyone to move on while also expressing empathy for the fans’ response.
“I feel like it’s just kind of been like that ever since he left,” Tatum said. “Obviously, we all know what happened. But that was a while ago, a couple years. I have a great relationship with him. A few of us that are still here that played with him have a great relationship with him. We’ve all moved on from it, but you understand that fans are passionate and things like that. So I guess that is to be expected. But none of the players have any animosity towards Ky or anything like that.”
With their season sweep of Dallas after their victory on Friday night, the Celtics will not play Irving until the following campaign, unless they run into each other in the NBA Finals.
