Kyrie Irving Was Fined $50,000 For Giving Boston Fans The Finger

Game 1 of the Nets-Celtics first round series was an instant classic, featuring sensational individual performances from Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum, with the latter swiping a win away from Brooklyn with a buzzer-beating layup.

Irving’s 39-point effort wasn’t quite enough to get the Nets a win, but it was clear that he was embracing his villain status in the TD Garden. The former Celtic is now reviled in Boston for how he left, and he hears it from the crowd every time he touches the ball. On Sunday, he gave it right back to the fans on a few occasions, including one that the ABC broadcast highlighted where he gave fans the middle finger after drilling a long-two in the corner.

While Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson had plenty of jokes about it, the league didn’t find it as funny and hit Irving with an unsurprising $50,000 fine on Tuesday.

It’s the standard procedure at this point, but it is a situation where the league continues to punish players for responding in kind to what they are hearing from fans, who don’t face the same zero-tolerance policy on profanity. Irving certainly didn’t seem worried about the fine to come in his postgame press conference and we’ll see what more he has for Celtics fans in Game 2 on Wednesday night.