Boston Celtics fans have drawn heavy criticism for beating up a blow-up doll with Kyrie Irving’s face on it.
Celtics fans brought a blow up doll with Kyrie Irving’s face on it, chanting “f— Kyrie! f— Kyrie!” and tossing the doll around and beating it up. pic.twitter.com/uDQ33GDwR0
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) June 7, 2024
Celtics fans stomp out a Kyrie blow up doll 😳
(🎥 @2024Boston_ ) pic.com/6lHws7xQe0
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 7, 2024
The incident occurred outside TD Garden before Game 1 of the NBA Finals and sparked outrage online:
We gotta be better Boston. Blow-up doll of Kyrie with some suspect antics and language that we couldn’t show. Let’s normalize decency. @wfaa #nbafinals @Mavs_FFL pic.com/oV0n2Gchvy
— Jobin Panicker (@jobinpnews) June 6, 2024
Whoever burned the jersey and also had the blow up doll with Kyrie face on it y’all are childish asf and making the fanbase look bad we will never beat the allegations #DifferentHere pic.com/EnHGYZlHPR
— Josh617 (@JoshConnolly69) June 7, 2024
Looks racist to me. But it’s Boston so 😌
— Black Beth Dutton 🥃 (@Oh_Katie_Babie) June 7, 2024
They’re NEVER beating the racism allegations
Holy moly— Taydanij (@taydanij) June 7, 2024
Sickening
— ɪᴍ.ʀɪʟᴇʏ シ ✞ ☘️ (@CookedByRiley0) June 7, 2024
It’s giving racist…
— Kidd Kong (@kidd_kongmusic) June 7, 2024
Irving did not discuss the incident postgame, but he did speak about the reception he received from Celtics fans inside the arena.
“It’s just basketball at the end of the day,” he said. “Being in this environment, I’m used to it at this point. Early in my career, there was a different relationship that I had with Boston, being able to come here and be settled with a veteran group. Now, I’m here as a veteran.
“Over the past few years, just experiencing the playoffs here, even the regular season, it’s been the same thing. I thought it was going to be a little bit louder in here. But I’m expecting the same things going into Game 2 – crowd trying to get me out of my element, to get my teammates out of their element.
“But again, the energy has to be focused towards the game. I felt I had a lot of great looks. It hit back rim, or they were just a little left or right. I just have to stay confident and stay poised throughout this.”
Whether or not the crowd played a part, Irving struggled mightily on the court. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists on 6-19 shooting, as Dallas suffered a 107-89 defeat.
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