Kyrie Irving has a lot of detractors for many reasons. Whether those reasons are justified or not will depend on where everyone stands on those issues. However, there are a lot of unquestionable positive things that Irving does that set him as an aspirational figure. We have seen this through his philanthropy and self-belief.
Irving is a practicing Muslim and is currently observing the month-long Ramadan worship period where Muslims choose to fast through the day and only eat after the sun goes down. We have seen many active players fast during Ramadan and play basketball, including Irving last season. The best example has to be Hakeem Olajuwon for his mythically good performances while he was fasting.
While the Brooklyn Nets fell to a 2-0 deficit in Game 2 against the Boston Celtics, Irving did something that will spread motivation through people actively fasting for Ramadan, as he was substituted out of the game towards the end of the first quarter so that he could grab a snack from the locker room and break his fast on the bench.
kyrie irving breaking his fast during the game. fasting as an nba athlete must be so difficult. mad respect to kyrie pic.twitter.com/wS5fRg4SGu
— buckets (@buckets) April 20, 2022
Irving had a terrible night of basketball, managing to score only 10 points in the 40 minutes he spent on the court. This can’t be attributed to his fasting, as he scored 39 points in his last game in Boston while fasting, Co-leader Kevin Durant had 27 points, but with horrible efficiency, missing every single shot attempt in the second half.
The Boston Celtics seem to have the Brooklyn Nets all figured out. They have been limiting production from at least one of the stars knowing that both of them need to be the leaders to help Brooklyn take a win.
Hopefully, the Nets can figure out a solution for their problems and not fall to a 3-0 deficit that would all but guarantee their season ending in the first round. Meanwhile, we want to send our wishes to Kyrie Irving and everyone else for Ramadan.
