Kyrie Calls out Boston for Being Racist

[Prokorov]

One more thing that is really telling here....

The Boston players coming out now, saying they have heard or been victim of racist stuff from Boston Fans have some REALLY east outs here....

"unfortunately this stuff happens in every arena"
"Boston fans have always been great to me"
"I think the focus needs to be on basketball, my focus is on game 3"
"Racism in this country is a major issue, its bigger then fans in this arena, any arena"

But no one is saying that. no one is saying this is a problem in our country or a problem in every arena. they are just saying "yeah, it happens all the time with boston fans"

thats really telling and really damaging. We already knew guys didnt want to go there as FA's cause of it. im sure it happens to some extent everywhere, but it must be REALLY prevalent in Boston

[Prokorov]

If you are scoring at home:

-2 Nets (Brown, Durant) have confirmed what Kyrie said/racial stuff from boston fans
-2 Celtics (Smart, Thompson) have confirmed what Kyrie said/racial stuff from boston fans

ZERO current nets/celtics have said otherwise or denied what Kyrie said.

Disgusting so many Celtics fans deny it, minimize it ("its ok because it happens elsewhere") and wish harm on kyrie or to trade celtics who stand by him.

I really feel sad for young black fans though. they are at the games and hear that stuff too and then need to go home knowing they live in a community where its common place for that word to be used so freely in public.

I'm shocked the celtics havent made a stand and a statement here. their silence has to be rough on black men and women in Boston

The Jazz were quick to lay the hammer down on fans who said some awful things to Ja Morant's father the other night, yet we don't hear a peep from the Celtics organization. They know if they warn their fans to act like civilized human beings, the result will be similar to what you're seeing on the Celtics board where you have people wanting to run Marcus Smart out of town for speaking out against racism.

Yeah its really sad... Ainge had a chance to get out in front and change the narrative to something like "If people are yelling that nonsense, we wont tolerate it". instead he just gets all offended, denies it, and says its not my job basically.

The second Kyrie said something (And really long before that, with cousins and what not) the Celtics should have made public statements of 0 tolerance for racism and launched a huge anti-racism campaign.

But if you have rich white owners, there is always a good chance they arent too upset with the N-word being used

[old skool]

I took Irving's initial comment as a desire to deflect the general animosity that Celtic fans have held for him since his letdown performance in 2019. He seemed to be using overtly racist incidents in Boston to deflect attention from the fact that he is persona non-grata in Celtic-ville for the way he played and then left.

From what I see, Irving is generally disliked by Celtic fans because of the way he played in 2019, missing games, disrupting the team, and playing like he was disinterested while getting blown out in the playoffs. It sounds disingenuous for him to say that he hopes Celtic fans keep it about "basketball" when they have been irate for two years that he left the team following a horrible playoff performance where he hoisted over 20 shots per game even though he was shooting under 36% from the field. Watching those games, Irving seemed to single handedly destroy the Celtics team concept. And then he departed without giving the team a chance to get another player in return after vowing that he wanted to stay in Boston forever. Celtic fans have been salivating at the prospect of showing their dislike/hatred for what he did, and Kyrie seems to be trying to make it about something other than basketball. Almost like he does not want to be booed on national TV.

I am sure that people will reveal aspects of their personal biases in reacting to Irving, some/much of which will be inappropriately ugly. Racism might play a role in how those reactions are manifested, but I suspect those same fans would be cheering him if he had not played like a disinterested individual and left Boston after making unsolicited loyalty pronouncements to the contrary.

[Prokorov]

I took Irving's initial comment as a desire to deflect the general animosity that Celtic fans have held for him since his letdown performance in 2019. He seemed to be using overtly racist incidents in Boston to deflect attention from the fact that he is persona non-grata in Celtic-ville for the way he played and then left.

From what I see, Irving is generally disliked by Celtic fans because of the way he played in 2019, missing games, disrupting the team, and playing like he was disinterested while getting blown out in the playoffs. It sounds disingenuous for him to say that he hopes Celtic fans keep it about "basketball" when they have been irate for two years that he left the team following a horrible playoff performance where he hoisted over 20 shots per game even though he was shooting under 36% from the field. Watching those games, Irving seemed to single handedly destroy the Celtics team concept. And then he departed without giving the team a chance to get another player in return after vowing that he wanted to stay in Boston forever. Celtic fans have been salivating at the prospect of showing their dislike/hatred for what he did, and Kyrie seems to be trying to make it about something other than basketball. Almost like he does not want to be booed on national TV.

I am sure that people will reveal aspects of their personal biases in reacting to Irving, some/much of which will be inappropriately ugly. Racism might play a role in how those reactions are manifested, but I suspect those same fans would be cheering him if he had not played like a disinterested individual and left Boston after making unsolicited loyalty pronouncements to the contrary.

All of that is irrelevant. If Boston fans want to hate on Kyrie and boo him they are welcome to. That is all kosher. But like he said, keep it to basketball. He knows he is going to get boo'd, but nothing about what you said above makes it ok to call him the N-word and other stuff.

Kyrie knows the Boo's are coming, what concerns him is he knows that the N-word/monkey stuff is coming too.

And what is sad, is that a lot of Boston fans seem more upset that they lost the chance to boo him really hard and not upset that opposing players continually are concerned with or bring up that Boston fans are constantly hurling racist stuff at them.

I think it is also really ridiculous to think that what Kyrie is really worried about is being boo'd on national TV instead of being called all kinds of racist stuff. Kyrie has been a star for years... he has played on the biggest stages. being boo'd isnt an issue. Being called racist stuff isnt ok. and that stuff is clearly important to him with how outspoken he is and with the enormous amount of work and charity he does in that space

[MrDollarBills]

I took Irving's initial comment as a desire to deflect the general animosity that Celtic fans have held for him since his letdown performance in 2019. He seemed to be using overtly racist incidents in Boston to deflect attention from the fact that he is persona non-grata in Celtic-ville for the way he played and then left.

From what I see, Irving is generally disliked by Celtic fans because of the way he played in 2019, missing games, disrupting the team, and playing like he was disinterested while getting blown out in the playoffs. It sounds disingenuous for him to say that he hopes Celtic fans keep it about "basketball" when they have been irate for two years that he left the team following a horrible playoff performance where he hoisted over 20 shots per game even though he was shooting under 36% from the field. Watching those games, Irving seemed to single handedly destroy the Celtics team concept. And then he departed without giving the team a chance to get another player in return after vowing that he wanted to stay in Boston forever. Celtic fans have been salivating at the prospect of showing their dislike/hatred for what he did, and Kyrie seems to be trying to make it about something other than basketball. Almost like he does not want to be booed on national TV.

I am sure that people will reveal aspects of their personal biases in reacting to Irving, some/much of which will be inappropriately ugly. Racism might play a role in how those reactions are manifested, but I suspect those same fans would be cheering him if he had not played like a disinterested individual and left Boston after making unsolicited loyalty pronouncements to the contrary.

So you have a problem with him not wanting racial slurs hurled at him and being dehumanized. That says more about you than it does him.

Seriously, what is wrong with you? This is nothing about being booed and you know it. You're being disingenuous.

[MrDollarBills]

Imagine coming onto the Nets board and equating being called a N____R to being booed. There are some real **** ing idiots on this site.

[old skool]

I was speaking to Irving's motivation.

In no way am I justifying or supporting inappropriate behavior.

Thank you for your comments, but please do not distort mine. I am sorry if I was not clear in what I was saying.

Sent from my SM-N960U using RealGM mobile app

[GTR11]

how bad is Fournier? Matt even made a video how Kyrie and Harden targeted him after PnR.

[GTR11]

azz whooping in Session

[Suwanee]

So Boston fans got into Irving’s head apparently

[Prokorov]

So Boston fans got into Irving’s head apparently

They really didnt. They tried to bait him into playing hero ball but he played his game. played well in the second half and let harden/durant demolish mismatches instead of trying to score 40 on smart + double teams.

[MrDollarBills]

So Boston fans got into Irving’s head apparently

Did you even watch the game? Kyrie didn't get baited into playing hero ball to prove something. He was also getting doubled aggressively. Come on now.

[Suwanee]

So Boston fans got into Irving’s head apparently

Did you even watch the game? Kyrie didn't get baited into playing hero ball to prove something. He was also getting doubled aggressively. Come on now.

So he just happened to have a subpar game after he opened his mouth unnecessarily? Mmmkay.

I did watch the game. He was getting doubled only occasionally. Stop over exaggerating.

[Suwanee]

For the record, I don’t have any problem with what he said, but just the timing. Any reasonable person wouldn’t say that before arguably the most critical game in the series. It does nothing but give the opposing players and fans extra ammunition and motivation.

[Prokorov]

For the record, I don’t have any problem with what he said, but just the timing. Any reasonable person wouldn’t say that before arguably the most critical game in the series. It does nothing but give the opposing players and fans extra ammunition and motivation.

What is wrong with the timing? There is no better timing... He was about to go play 2 games in front of fans who he knows for a fact are highly likely to go beyond booing... to say and do racist stuff, and to be vulgar and talk about families and threats and violent nonsense.

He made it clear, he knew he was going to be boo'd. he hoped it would stick to basketball.

But classless racist d-bag celtics fans couldnt do that even with all the attention shined on them. Their own players confirmed Kyrie's concerns.

And Boston fans proved him right by becoming vulgar and violent and throwing a bottle at his head.

So I'm sorry the "timing" wasnt right for triggered boston fans who want to live in a bubble where their fans are racist violent trash. but you dont get to choose. Kyrie pointed out some VERY valid concerns. Hell if he doesnt make that statement it probably would have been worse with the offenders getting off without penalty.

You have an issue with the timing... well i have an issue with racist remarks and throwing things at players.

as KD said "grow the F__K up"

[GTR11]

Tatum and Brown will be out after their second contract. I have no doubt about it. They might force trade too. They not staying after s*** like that.

Word is out. Players talk and a lot.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Players don't like coming to Boston for this reason. They never get top tier free agents.

AD basically told them never to trade for him.

I honestly thought it was a small minority of Celtics fans. But the way Celtics fans have defended the water bottle thing because Kyrie stepped on the logo is just disgusting. Clearly its a larger problem than just a few bad apples.

No wonder Kyrie got the **** out of there.

[MrDollarBills]

Players don't like coming to Boston for this reason. They never get top tier free agents.

AD basically told them never to trade for him.

I honestly thought it was a small minority of Celtics fans. But the way Celtics fans have defended the water bottle thing because Kyrie stepped on the logo is just disgusting. Clearly its a larger problem than just a few bad apples.

No wonder Kyrie got the **** out of there.

Read this thread, it's entertaining to see them have meltdowns over what Kyrie did:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2086196&start=60

And for good measure, one of their posters is in there spewing racial slurs about Chinese people and is calling Jaylen Brown a communist for being outspoken against systemic racism.

But being fair, I will say that from what I'm seeing it's a small minority of dickheads over there who actually condone what happened last night. More than a few of them condemned the bottle thrower

[Paradise]

So Boston fans got into Irving’s head apparently

No. Kyrie just cemented why he left Boston and why people LEAVE Boston. He exposed the racist obsessive nature of their fans.

[Prokorov]

So Boston fans got into Irving’s head apparently

Did you even watch the game? Kyrie didn't get baited into playing hero ball to prove something. He was also getting doubled aggressively. Come on now.

So he just happened to have a subpar game after he opened his mouth unnecessarily? Mmmkay.

I did watch the game. He was getting doubled only occasionally. Stop over exaggerating.

He had the same game in game 3 that he did in game 2. Boston doubled/trapped him and he deferred. He wasn't throwing up air balls and crying to refs or getting into it with fans or going 1 on 3, or being baited to play hero-ball. He played team ball, took the quality shots that were available, was aggressive when guarded 1 on 1, and deferred to Harden who was 1-on-1 with Kemba or Fournier most of the night. He could have shot better, but he took good shots and got to his spots... and not being baited into hero ball led to 41 points form Harden. He checked his ego.

Game 4 was in front of even more fans. a sellout at the garden. This is what Boston fans had been salavating for since the news broke Boston was lifting restrictions. That a rowdy TD garden crowd would boo kyrie and be on him relentlessly for 48 minutes and he would turtle...

Only, the opposite happened. He abused the entire celtics roster for an efficient 40 points, drilled 6 threes on 50% from deep, was throwing down putback dunks, broke several ankles and led the Nets with 11 rebounds.

I mean really, you cant possibly ether a team more then Kyrie just ethered the celtics...

-Calls then out (accurately) for being a known racist crowd
-Several celtics come to his defense, confirming its a known racist crowd.
-He says he wants to "keep it to basketball" not have it get belligerent/racist
-Kyrie is proven 1000% correct as the crowd was belligerent, chanting "F*** Kyrie" and throwing things at his head
-Kyrie drops 40, breaks ankles, rains threes, and dunks in a nets laugher of a blowout win
-Celtics players give kyrie love after the game

Celtics fans, per usual, taking the low road by saying Kyrie either deserved it or "they can understand" the bottle throwing because he "incited it" by stepping on the celtics logo...

like, bro,.... you legit were saying "F**K you Kyrie" for 48 minutes. You have trashed the dude for 2 straight years. Your going to be upset cause he stepped on your logo? GTFO with that noise. curse the dude out, throw crap at him and then play like your the church choir cause he stepped on your logo?

Thats like being mad at a jewish person for tearing up a nazi flag. That celtics logo doesnt stand for anything postive right now... not with half your team coming out calling you own fans racist. And Kyrie has every right to curb stomp that after everything the crowd gave him for 2 straight games.

The Celtics are pretty F'd too. They already sturggled to get free agents, Kyrie sounding the alarms and Boston proving him right only makes it 100 times worse. Players in the league are tight and look up to Kyrie on and especially off the court. people clown him for what he says, but he says the things alot of players wont/cant because of the media ramifications. and he creates road of income for them beyond basketball and roads to help their causes. He got voted as one of the VPs of the players union. he is tight with former players, duke alum, team usa players/alum, stars, all-stars, agents, etc... And dont think it fell deaf that he called out boston fans and the celtic players backed him

Tatum is gone ASAP, Brown is likely gone ASAP. Smart maybe this offseason.