The Boston Celtics’ home arena, the TD Garden is known for its hostile environment to road teams. The home fans at the Garden have tried to raise the roof in the first two games of the ongoing NBA Finals as well. However, a couple of members from the visiting Dallas Mavericks squad felt that the loudness of the crowd had been underwhelming compared to what had been advertised.
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Earlier, Mavs’ superstar guard Kyrie Irving, who shares an antagonistic relationship with the Celts, relayed a similar sentiment. Later on, Rookie center Dereck Lively II also joined him in claiming that the Celtics crowd didn’t have as much of an impact as he had expected.
Now that the series moves to Dallas for Game 3 and Game 4, Lively II reflected on his experience with the Boston crowd in the first two games during a media interaction. He commented, “I thought Boston would be loud. There’s a bunch of rumors about how Boston can be so loud, so nasty, so I thought it would be worse.“
It’s funny how the players who haven’t done a thing this series like kyrie or lively are the ones saying the crowd hasn’t been loud meanwhile Luka is saying it’s one of the toughest environments to play in😂😂😂. the moment is just too big for some guys
— evang_13 (@evang_13o) June 11, 2024
Whether Celtics fans cheered loudly enough at the highest stage cannot be determined objectively, but the Boston Celtics have had the perfect homestand in the series so far. Lively’s comments might not show it, but the Celtics are 2-0 ahead right now and they have looked convincing during both wins.
Meanwhile, both Irving and Lively II have performed below par and didn’t take advantage of what they perceived to be a lack of noise from the Celtics faithful. While Irving has scored 28 points in the two games in Boston, the rookie center has tallied an appalling four points in two games.
Is this just a part of their mind games to unsettle the Celtics? Well if it is, it hasn’t worked out for sure.
Kyrie Irving got a response
Despite the Celtics handing a blowout loss to the Mavs in Game 1, Kyrie Irving felt after Game 1 that the TD Garden crowd wasn’t as loud as he had expected. Ever since Kai left the Celtics in 2019, the Boston crowd and the veteran guard tend to go at each other any time he plays at the Garden.
During Game 2, Irving’s quote about the fans being not loud enough was displayed on the jumbotron at TD Garden. Upon viewing the quote, the Celts fans straightaway started to yell “Kyrie Sucks”. All this added insult to injury in the Mavs’ loss.
Moreover, during the Mavs’ lineup introduction, they let Irving hear their boos as loudly as they can. Whenever he touched the ball, the Celtics fans let him know their feelings. However, Kyrie did let the Boston fans know at the end that he’d not be swept and will be back for redemption at TD Garden.
But the clock is ticking for Dallas as the Mavs guard has been shooting below 36% from the field in the first two games. Now, he’ll hope that the support from home fans will help him recover his form as the series nears an early conclusion.
