Nets guard Kryie Irving was fined $50,000 for obscene gestures and profane language directed at the Boston crowd in Brooklyn’s Game 1 loss on Sunday. Steven Senne/Associated Press
BOSTON — Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has been fined $50,000 for making obscene gestures and directing profane language toward the Boston crowd during Brooklyn’s Game 1 playoff loss to the Celtics.
Byron Spruell, president of league operations, announced the fines on Tuesday.
Cameras captured Irving flipping his middle finger toward fans as he ran down the court after making a shot in the third quarter. Irving said after the game that his actions were in response to jeers from fans he said crossed the line.
“Where I’m from, I’m used to all these antics and people being close nearby,” Irving said after the game. “It’s nothing new when I come into this building what it’s going to be like. But it’s the same energy they have for me, 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. When people start yelling (expletives) and all this stuff, there’s only but so much you take as a competitor. We’re the ones expected to be docile and be humble, take a humble approach…it’s the playoffs. This is what it is.”
Irving spent two seasons in Boston before departing during free agency in 2019 to join the Nets.
In Game 1 on Sunday, he was booed loudly every time he touched the ball but led Brooklyn with 39 points in the Nets’ last-second 115-114 loss. Fans have given him similar receptions in recent visits to Boston.
But it reached its most volatile point last season during the playoff matchup between the Nets and Celtics when a fan was arrested after allegedly tossing a bottle at Irving that nearly hit him.
With that history in mind, leading up to the start of the series Irving said he expected a level of jeering from Celtics’ fans. Be he also noted after last season’s incident that he had experienced what he characterized as “racism” from the TD Garden crowd.
The Celtics host Brooklyn in Game 2 of their series on Wednesday night.
BOSTON COACH Ime Udoka saw firsthand how Irving dealt with a fiery Boston crowd last postseason while he was an assistant coach with the Nets. He’s watching from the other side of the court now as Celtics head coach during this postseason as bad blood from Irving and the Boston fanbase spills out.
“I didn’t hear all the postgame comments,” Udoka said of Irving’s remarks. “I heard some of them. But we’re not worried about that. Obviously it’s a deal he has with the team he’s been with. Had a similar thing in Cleveland last year. So, our focus is guarding him, stopping him from getting 39. We’re not worried about what’s going on with him and the fans.”
Udoka does not believe Irving is using the vitriol from Boston fans to raise his game
“I think he’s a self-motivated guy already,” Udoka said. “Obviously has a history here with the organization and players on this team, and so some things happened last year as well, but I wouldn’t say moved past it, it’s still an issue that’s coming up, but he is a very motivated, talented individual that didn’t play a lot of games this year and I think big picture is looking at how he can be successful in the postseason more so than against the Celtics.”
Several other Boston players still count Irving as a friend off the court and have tried to stay out of the back and forth between Irving and the Celtics fans.
“I was not aware,” Brown said of the exchanges during Game 1. “All my energy was on our team and what we gotta do to win games. I wasn’t focused on anything else, to be honest, and that’s all I’m focused on now.”
KEVIN DURANT is no stranger to being the target of boos from former fanbases after leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder last decade after nine seasons with the team.
However, Durant had an intriguing perspective on Irving’s actions in Game 1.
“I mean, it’s rooted in love,” Durant said of the reception. “They once loved you and cheered for you and bought your merchandise. Life-altering experiences coming to the game watching you play. When that gets ripped from them from something like a trade or demanding a trade or wanting to leave, it feels like a piece of them is gone too.
“It’s an emotional attachment they have to pro sports and that’s a gift and curse of having a team in your city to grow up. It shows that people care and have emotions and people accept and admire who we are as individuals. Sometimes it gets dark and deep but that’s how the human brain works.”
THE IMAGE OF a banged-up Brown with both his nostrils plugged to stop some bleeding was seemingly lost in the shuffle as just another part of Boston’s win.
Brown took some hits to the face last Sunday, which resulted in the leaky nose. That kept up throughout the night, Brown said, as his nose bled that night every 45 minutes or so. But the biggest impact was during the game as he ran up and down the court.
“At one point, I had both of my (nostrils) plugged in and I couldn’t breathe,” Brown said Tuesday after practice. “But that’s playoff basketball. That’s what you sign up for. If I had to do it all again for that same minute, I’ll do it all again.”
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