Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving was booed by Boston Celtics fans last night (3/1) at the TD Garden every time he touched the ball and the NBA champion didn’t have a problem with it.
Irving played two seasons with the Celtics from 2017-18 to 2018-19.
“It’s been six years, you gotta love it,” Irving said, via The Athletic. “But rightfully so, they have a right to boo. For my career record for the last few games, I haven’t won. Until I beat them then they have all the right to continue to boo. I think that’s what makes the theatrics of sports and competitive sports fun. Just gotta embrace it and it’s part of it.”
Before the start of the 2018-19 season, Irving told Celtics fans he would re-sign with Boston in the summer of 2019. However, the Duke product didn’t keep his word and signed with the Brooklyn Nets instead.
Since then, Irving has been booed and heckled by Celtics fans every time he plays in Boston. During the first round of the 2021 NBA playoffs, a Boston fan threw a water bottle at Irving as Nets players were heading toward the locker room. Irving also stomped his foot on the Celtics logo in 2021.
“Obviously, we all know what happened,” Celtics star Jayson Tatum said. “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.”
The Celtics beat the Mavericks by a final score of 138-110. Irving finished with 19 points while shooting 9-of-23 from the field and 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.
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