The Brooklyn Nets regained full control of their series with the Celtics on Sunday with a 141-126 win in Boston to take a 3-1 lead and move a game away from a second round showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Nets Big 3 were all incredible in the win, with Kevin Durant scoring 42 points, Kyrie Irving scoring 39, and James Harden putting up a 23-point, 18-assist effort. However, after the game the conversation was about everything but how the Nets stars put together one of their best games as a group this season, as postgame incidents dominated the news cycle.
Irving had a water bottle thrown at his head by a Celtics fan who was arrested and faces felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charges for his actions, drawing further commentary about the current state of fan-player interactions and the upsetting number of incidents of fans crossing the line already this postseason. Prior to that, as Irving met his teammates at midcourt to celebrate, he stomped and dragged his foot through the head of Celtics’ logo at midcourt, drawing the ire of Celtics fans.
Kyrie appeared to step on the Boston logo as he greeted his teammates at half court postgame.
(via @yornoc74) pic.twitter.com/thcXjX15He
— ESPN (@espn) May 31, 2021
On Monday morning, Kevin Garnett added his name to the list of people associated with the Celtics who decided to call out Irving, saying “that’s not coo on no level.”
KG tripping smh pic.twitter.com/lgWDOBcDab
— Master (@MasterTes) May 31, 2021
KG isn’t the only former Celtic upset by the act, as Cedric Maxwell also called it a “classless” act and Glen “Big Baby” Davis got very mad on Instagram about it, only to get laughed at by KD.
Kyrie, u are a great player! Why the classes act?
(#Kyrie stomps on iconic #Celtics leprechaun.) pic.twitter.com/iyOKgP9EGi
— Cedric Maxwell (@cedricmaxwell81) May 31, 2021
Kingpin Grant Williams is ready to put in some calls pic.twitter.com/2UT7q94FC1
— #HonkHonk (@ColeyMick) May 31, 2021
Had no one thrown a water bottle at Irving, this would’ve been the lead story coming out of the game because there is nothing folks in sports love to discuss more than logo disrespectin’. Stomping on the logo is, typically, a football thing — the gold standard remains Terrell Owens in Dallas — but it appears basketball players take it just as seriously.
Irving clearly isn’t a fan of the Celtics after his time there and made that known, but, despite what some have said, him stepping on a logo out of spite does not in any way offer a defense of the fan who threw a bottle at him. That’s where the conversation jumps the shark is equating smushing a logo painted on the floor people have been running over for 48 minutes with being equally as bad as throwing things at actual people’s heads. As long as we can acknowledge that, let the logo disrespect debates fly.