Ridiculed By Boston Celtics Fans, Brooklyn Nets Point Guard Kyrie Irving Middle Fingers Reply: Not For All Fans

Point guard Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving. (Foto: Instagram.com/@brooklynnets)

JAKARTA - Brooklyn Nets point guard, Kyrie Irving, received unpleasant treatment when his team faced the Boston Celtics in game 1 of the NBA playoffs on Monday, April 18 local time. He was under pressure from the Celtics fans who packed TD Garden.

Quoted from The Guardian, it happened at the moment when Irving was standing on the sidelines. The Celtics fans who were behind him were heard hurling harsh words that irritated Kyrie Irving.

Kyrie Irving looked calm in the face of the reproach and made a few funny gestures. But then the Australian-born player finally responded with an unusual gesture.

Irving is seen placing both hands behind his head. It was later discovered that the hand gesture behind the head was the middle finger.

When responding to scorn from fans with that gesture, Irving actually got applause from Celtics fans.

"It's nothing new when I come here and get this kind of response (scorned), but it's the same energy they have for me," Irving was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"I will also have the same energy for them. But this (response) is not given to all supporters, I don't want to attack all supporters," Irving added.

The former Cleveland Cavaliers player explained that the middle finger was not a form of hostility to Celtics supporters. In Irving's eyes, this is the dark side of competition in the NBA that must be accepted by all parties.

"But when people start yelling rants and all this stuff, there's so many people you can think of as competitors," Irving said.

"We are a people who are expected to be submissive, humble, and take a cool attitude. It's not an emotional payback. It's a hot playoff and I know what to expect here (pressure) and I give the same energy back to them," Irving explained.