Kyrie Irving lost his 10th straight game against the Celtics on Friday night after a 138-110 rout of the Mavericks at TD Garden. Boston fans took delight in watching the struggles of the former Celtic, peppering him with boos even time he touched the ball amid a 9-of-23 shooting night. Irving finished with 19 points in 36 minutes but did not seem to mind the vitriol he continued to deal with from Boston fans after the game.
“They have a right to boo,” Irving said. “From my career record against them in the last few games, I haven’t won so until I beat them, they have all the right to continue to boo. I think that’s what makes the theatrics of sports and competitive sports fun. Just gotta embrace it. It’s part of it.”
Irving remains close to several of his former Celtics teammates including Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. The All-Star duo tried to keep a neutral stance on the fan reaction after the game even though Irving’s departure came five years ago.
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“To be honest I ain’t got no thoughts on it,” Brown said. “The fans, they do what they do and they got whatever reason for that. I think they should boo every player, every star player that comes into our arena. I’d like to see that. Maybe it has an effect, maybe it doesn’t, but when Jokic and all these other players come in, boo them too.”
Tatum carried an understanding with the fans’ reaction but pushed for everyone to move on.
“I feel like it’s just kind of been like that ever since he left,” Tatum said. “Obviously, we all know what happened. But that was a while ago, a couple years. I have a great relationship with him. A few of us that are still here that played with him have a great relationship with him. We’ve all moved on from it, but you understand that fans are passionate and things like that. So I guess that is to be expected. But none of the players have any animosity towards Ky or anything like that.”
The Celtics’ win on Friday night gives them a season sweep over Dallas so they won’t see Irving until next season barring a collision in the NBA Finals.
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