The Nets topped the Celtics, 141-126 in Game 4 of their best-of-7 series, however, after the win, Irving didn’t spend any time talking about the game itself.<\/b>
\nGetty Images\t Kyrie Irving of the Nets dribbles the ball against the Celtics during the first half of Game Four of the Eastern Conference first round series\t The Brooklyn Nets topped the Boston Celtics,141-126 in Game 4 of their best-of-7 series, which gives the Nets a commanding 3-1 lead, however, following the win, Irving didn\u2019t spend any time talking about the game itself during media availability. Thanks to one ignorant Celtics fan. The latest Celtics news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Celtics newsletter here! Join Heavy on Celtics! Irving spent over eight minutes fielding questions about the belligerent spectator who tossed a water bottle at him as the All-Star point guard was making his way into the tunnel following the win. Someone tossed something at Kyrie on his way off the court. Here’s the video via @Joe_Sway pic.twitter.com\/gw9NxR5IWk John Zannis (@John_Zannis) May 31, 2021 \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that sports has come to a lot of this kind of crossroads where you\u2019re seeing a lot of old ways come up,\u201d Irving said after Sunday\u2019s win over the Celtics. \u201cIt\u2019s been that way in history in terms of entertainment, performers, and sports for a long period of time. Underlying racism and just treating people like they\u2019re in a human zoo. You know, throwing stuff at people, saying things, there\u2019s just a certain point where it comes to be too much.\u201d Unfortunately, this sort of incident involving Irving and a Celtics fan is becoming a pattern in the NBA, of late. Last week, a Philadelphia 76ers fan threw popcorn onto Washington Wizards point guard Russell Westbrook before Westbrook attempted to confront the fan. Then, later in the week, three Utah Jazz fans were banned indefinitely for making vulgar and racist remarks to Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant and his family. \u201cI called it out. I just wanted to keep it strictly basketball,\u201d Irving added. \u201cBut, people just feel very entitled out here. They pay for their tickets, great. I\u2019m grateful that they\u2019re coming in to watch a great performance. But, we\u2019re not at the theater. We\u2019re not throwing tomatoes and other random stuff at the people performing. It\u2019s too much, and it\u2019s a reflection on us as a whole when you have fans acting like that. Hopefully, people learn their lessons from being banned for however many years of being arrested. But, there\u2019s always going to be an occasion.\u201d Did the fan yell anything toward you before or after tossing the water bottle? \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter, honestly,\u201d Irving replied. \u201cThese actions are historically relative when you think about where we\u2019ve come as a sport. It used to happen back in the day, a lot of older players went through it. And any great person, great entertainer, performer understands that when you\u2019re achieving something bigger than yourself, you\u2019re going to have a lot of adversity, animosity, and you just have to figure out a way to deal with it. Tonight, I think we collectively dealt with it. Anything could have happened with that water bottle being thrown at me. \u201cBut, my brothers were surrounded around me, I have people in the crowd. Just trying to get home to my wife and my kids.\u201d As the Nets and Celtics prepare for Game 5 in Brooklyn, Tuesday, Kyrie urges people to do their homework, and learn about the history behind the kind of incident that occurred at TD Garden. \u201cWe keep saying things like \u201cWe\u2019re human, we\u2019re human\u201d but we don\u2019t get treated like we have rights when we\u2019re out there, at times, and people feel entitled to do things like that,\u201d Irving said. \u201cWe claim that we care about each other as human beings but we just call things out before they happen \u2014 like I did the other day \u2014 I\u2019m telling people \u2018Just keep it basketball\u2019 and then you have things that happened at the Garden, things happening at Utah. There\u2019s a lot of history there of things happening. So, just do your research, I would say to everybody. \u201cHopefully, the respect of the game is kept at a high level moving forward. That\u2019s what I hope.\u201d READ NEXT:<\/p>\n