Boston Celtics followers have drawn heavy criticism for beating up a blow-up doll with Kyrie Irving’s face on it.
Celtics followers introduced a blow up doll with Kyrie Irving’s face on it, chanting “f— Kyrie! f— Kyrie!” and tossing the doll round and beating it up. pic.twitter.com/uDQ33GDwR0
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) June 7, 2024
Celtics followers stomp out a Kyrie blow up doll 😳
(🎥 @2024Boston_ ) pic.twitter.com/6lHws7xQe0
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 7, 2024
The incident occurred outdoors TD Garden earlier than Game 1 of the NBA Finals and sparked outrage on-line:
We gotta be higher Boston. Blow-up doll of Kyrie with some suspect antics and language that we couldn’t present. Let’s normalize decency. @wfaa #nbafinals @Mavs_FFL pic.twitter.com/oV0n2Gchvy
— Jobin Panicker (@jobinpnews) June 6, 2024
Whoever burned the jersey and in addition had the blow up doll with Kyrie face on it y’all are infantile asf and making the fanbase look unhealthy we are going to by no means beat the allegations #DifferentHere pic.twitter.com/EnHGYZlHPR
— Josh617 (@JoshConnolly69) June 7, 2024
Looks racist to me. But it’s Boston so 😌
— Black Beth Dutton 🥃 (@Oh_Katie_Babie) June 7, 2024
They’re NEVER beating the racism allegations
Holy moly— Taydanij (@taydanij) June 7, 2024
Sickening
— ɪᴍ.ʀɪʟᴇʏ シ ✞ ☘️ (@CookedByRiley0) June 7, 2024
It’s giving racist…
— Kidd Kong (@kidd_kongmusic) June 7, 2024
Irving didn’t talk about the incident postgame, however he did converse in regards to the reception he acquired from Celtics followers inside the sector.
“It’s just basketball at the end of the day,” he stated. “Being in this surroundings, I’m used to it at this level. Early in my profession, there was a unique relationship that I had with Boston, having the ability to come right here and be settled with a veteran group. Now, I’m right here as a veteran.
“Over the previous few years, simply experiencing the playoffs right here, even the common season, it’s been the identical factor. I believed it was going to be just a little bit louder in right here. But I’m anticipating the identical issues going into Game 2 – crowd attempting to get me out of my aspect, to get my teammates out of their aspect.
“But again, the energy has to be focused towards the game. I felt I had a lot of great looks. It hit back rim, or they were just a little left or right. I just have to stay confident and stay poised throughout this.”
Whether or not the group performed an element, Irving struggled mightily on the courtroom. He completed with 12 factors, three rebounds and two assists on 6-19 taking pictures, as Dallas suffered a 107-89 defeat.
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