Throughout the 2021 NBA playoffs, there have been a number of controversies involving the fans.
One Knicks fan was caught spitting on Trae Young in the series, while a Sixers fan went viral for throwing popcorn on Russell Westbrook.
After much backlash on social media, there was hope that the fans had learned their lesson and those acts of disrespect would finally stop.
Apparently, one Celtics fan didn’t get the memo, as he threw a bottle at Kyrie Irving after Game 4. Like before, the scene sparked outrage on Twitter.
Here is the video from @YESNetwork. The bottle narrowly misses Irving. This is just the latest incident in a string of recent unacceptable behavior from fans toward NBA players. https://t.co/UG271PaCGw pic.twitter.com/jSnaYR4ETU
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) May 31, 2021
Kevin Durant spoke rather bluntly about the incident after the game:
“Grow the fuck up and enjoy the game. It’s bigger than you…
We know how these people are in Boston. We know how passionate they are about Kyrie — they’re still upset at him.”
"Grow the f*ck up and enjoy the game. It's bigger than you."
– Kevin Durant’s message to the fans
(h/t @MattBrooksNBA ) pic.twitter.com/GutUGJG1bK
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 31, 2021
Kevin Durant has some words for fans throwing water bottles/popcorn or spitting on players…All facts. 💯🙏
(via @malika_andrews) pic.twitter.com/nEfxOXcP7j
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 31, 2021
Obviously, feelings are pretty high in Boston. The team is down 1-3, so it’s likely that they played their last game in TD Garden. Also, their likely elimination is going to come against Kyrie Irving, a guy who jumped ship for Brooklyn just a few years ago.
But it’s no excuse to haul objects at the players and disres[etc them like that on the court. The game of basketball is never serious enough to warrant the behavior.
No doubt, we can expect the fan in question to get banned for life from the arena.
