It’s going to be a long first-round series for Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets, or maybe it could end in two more games.
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The vexed relationship between Kyrie Irving and Bostonians since he left the Celtics in 2019 is a secret to none in the basketball community. That’s an unamendable relationship that brings unprecedented fun for not only the Celtics fans but also the parties not involved in the affair at all.
The 2022 first-round of the Playoffs couldn’t be any better than a battle between Kyrie’s Nets and his former team. And it is not all disappointing in any way apart from the fact that the series might end pretty earlier than the expectations and the winners might also be a surprise for most.
Fans cursed the 7x All-Star throughout Sunday’s Game 1, which resulted in him throwing some middle fingers on them and then activating his God mode and scoring 40 points. But it wasn’t enough for the Nets to win the game, as they lost it at the buzzer to a sensational spin move by Jayson Tatum.
To rub salt on that loss, Irving was fined $50,000 by the NBA on Tuesday. The 2016 NBA champion point guard must have been itching for Wednesday’s game to get his revenge, but as it turned out, it will be the Celtics who’d again be the punisher among the two rivals.
“Kyrie Irving – 10 points and 0 middle fingers, as far as we know!”: NBC Sports Boston
Not only did the Celtics defeat the Nets after trailing the game by 8 points at the half-time, but they also stopped Kyrie from going off again, limiting him to just 10 points while shooting 4/13 from the field. Their DPOY Marcus Smart and big man Al Horford shut down the duo of offensive juggernauts.
Smart and Horford were really on one defensively tonight. Smart shut down Irving and Horford was constantly swiping the ball away from Durant. pic.twitter.com/N8Q5gRJYpb
— Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) April 21, 2022
While that would have been an added joy to the Bostonians apart from the fact that their team went up 2-0 in the series, the Boston broadcasting team found their own way to add to the ongoing cold war.
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 21, 2022
That was a truly hysterical roast and impeccable timing by NBC Sports Boston. The “as far as we know” below the mainline “10 points, 0 middle fingers raised vs Celtics” just nailed it, as it wouldn’t have been much of a joke if Irving performed well again in a loss.