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 Backyard earlier than Recreation 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 likewise had the blow up doll with Kyrie face on it y’all are infantile asf and making the fanbase look dangerous we are going to by no means beat the allegations #DifferentHere pic.twitter.com/EnHGYZlHPR
— Josh617 (@JoshConnolly69) June 7, 2024
Appears to be like racist to me. However 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 focus on the incident postgame, however he did communicate concerning the reception he obtained from Celtics followers inside the sector.
“It’s simply basketball on the finish of the day,” he mentioned. “Being on this atmosphere, 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 a little bit bit louder in right here. However I’m anticipating the identical issues going into Recreation 2 – crowd attempting to get me out of my factor, to get my teammates out of their factor.
“However once more, the power needs to be centered in direction of the sport. I felt I had a variety of nice appears to be like. It hit again rim, or they have been just a bit left or proper. I simply have to remain assured and keep poised all through this.”
Whether or not or not the gang performed a component, Irving struggled mightily on the court docket. He completed with 12 factors, three rebounds and two assists on 6-19 capturing, as Dallas suffered a 107-89 defeat.
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