Celtics fan throws water bottle at Kyrie Irving after Nets’ Game 4 win
UPDATE: The TD Garden Statement from @tdgarden on fan throwing water bottle at Kyrie Irving incident - #Celtics @wbz #wbz pic.twitter.com/I7RphanEUK
Following the Celtics’ Game 4 loss to the Brooklyn Nets Sunday night, a fan threw a water bottle at Kyrie Irving as he was walking off the court. This comes after Irving made comments last week saying he hoped Celtics fans would “keep it strictly basketball” in his highly-anticipated playoff return to Boston.
After the bottle flew by Irving’s face (it did not hit him) he turned in the direction of the fan, as did a number of his teammates, before continuing down the tunnel.
A bottle of water appeared to have been thrown at Kyrie Irving as the Nets were exiting the floor in Boston. pic.twitter.com/u6pZDCaArJ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 31, 2021
A photo later showed a fan in a Celtics jersey detained and being led out of TD Garden by Boston police.
Update: pic.twitter.com/8poBfKZqza
— Michael Grady (@Grady) May 31, 2021
“It’s unfortunate that sports has come to this kind of crossroads,” Irving said postgame. “Just underlying racism and just treating people like they’re in a human zoo, throwing things at them. At a certain point it just becomes too much.”
“We keep saying things like ‘we’re human, we’re human,’ but we don’t get treated like we have rights when we’re out there at times and people feel entitled to go do things like that,” he continued.
“We just had a knucklehead decide to do something knuckleheadedish. And it got to taken care of,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said when asked about the incident. “Form my understanding, the culprit was taken care of quickly…so we’re happy for that.”
This continues what has been a string of incidents involving NBA players and fans. Last week, a spectator in Philadelphia dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook, and somebody in New York spit on Trae Young.
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Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at [email protected].
