Welp, it didn’t take long for Kyrie Irving to get into it with Celtics fans.
Midway through the third quarter of Sunday’s Game 1 battle between the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, the star guard buried a jumper over Jaylen Brown and gave a good ol’ one-finger salute to a fan in attendance at the TD Garden.
That's tough #NBASundays pic.twitter.com/7uUATxEBa8
— NBA UK (@NBAUK) April 17, 2022
Kyrie flipping off Celtics fans after the jumper pic.twitter.com/jwbIt4kYpP
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) April 17, 2022
This came shortly after he had some, uh, choice words for a heckler in the hallway during halftime.
Kyrie is fed up with Celtics fans pic.twitter.com/HS0SbkHCGv
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) April 17, 2022
Oh yeah, the Irving-Boston beef is very much still alive .
As a quick refresher, the seven-time All-Star played two seasons with the Celtics where he famously declared to season ticket holders prior to the 2018-19 season that he wanted to stay in Boston. However, the relationship between him and the rest of the organization soured over the course of the regular season and in the offseason, he bolted to join Kevin Durant with the division rival Nets.
Prior to last year’s first-round playoff matchup between the two squads, Irving ignited the flames by saying that he hoped the Celtics’ fans didn’t show “subtle racism” during the series. A few days later, he’d draw even further ire by stomping on the Celtics’ midcourt logo following their Game 4 victory.
So yeah, this beef runs deep and one would imagine the intensity will only ratchet up as the series goes on.