Kyrie Irving told a fan to ‘apologise’ before having them removed from the NBA clash between the Dallas Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
Irving’s Mavericks slipped to a fourth consecutive loss as the lowly Hornets secured a 110-104 win to leave Dallas outside of a NBA Play-In tournament spot in the Western Conference. The 2011 NBA champions have gone 5-13 since Luka Doncic and Irving played their first game together, and things went from bad to worse when they suffered consecutive losses to the struggling Hornets on Friday and Sunday respectively.
During Sunday’s game, Irving appeared to reach breaking point. In the third quarter at the Spectrum Center, play was briefly stopped as the eight-time All-Star spoke with an official about the fan.
The pair walked down the court as the referee pointed to an area in the stands where the disruptive fan was reportedly seated. Security then made their way to the scene to remove the fan, who booed towards the court as he was led out of the arena.
When asked about the incident, Irving told reporters: “He just called me out my name. So I just had to make sure I looked him eye to eye and see if he’d say it to my face.”
The incident appears to reveal some of the tension simmering beneath the surface in Dallas. The Mavericks are 7-13 since acquiring Irving, sliding from the fourth seed to 11th in the Western Conference.
Falling to the 25-51 Hornets likely added to the immense frustration given the Mavericks also lost to them at home on Friday. Irving was an ugly 5-of-15 shooting against Charlotte on Sunday, which ruined Doncic’s epic performance of 40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks.
With the two-game sweep, Charlotte dropped Dallas out of the play-in tournament, leaving them a full game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder in 10th place. It should be noted that the west is extremely tight as only four games separate the fourth-place Suns and the 11th-place Mavs, whose record now reads 36-39.
Dallas are running out of time to get their season back on track with just seven games remaining in the regular season. The Mavericks face the 33-42 Indiana Pacers in their next contest on Monday night.
