As they typically tend to do in response to his leaving the team for the Brooklyn Nets, fans of the Boston Celtics let Kyrie Irving — now with the Dallas Mavericks — hear their ire every time he touched the ball in Boston’s 138-110 blowout of the Mavs on Friday night at TD Garden.
The healthy rain of boos accompanied Irving’s nearly every move on the court, but the former Celtics floor general appeared to take it in stride, even as it appeared to impact his shot, with Irving going just 9-of-23 overall and 1-of-7 from deep. “Rightfully so,” began the Mavs guard on his response from the home crowd via CLNS Media.
“They have a right to boo and, you know, for my career record against them for the last few games I haven’t won so until I beat them, they have all the right to continue to boo.”
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“I think that’s what makes the theatrics of sports and competitive sports fun, and (you) just have to embrace it,” he added. “It’s a part of it.”
Whether a kinder, mellower Kyrie will ever settle his debts in the minds of Boston fans remains to be seen, but it’s an interesting new wrinkle on an old saga, if nothing else.
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