Kevin Garnett slams Kyrie Irving for stepping on Celtics on logo: ‘Need to be better’
Newly minted Hall of Famer and former Celtic, Garnett objected to what looked like a gesture of derision from the Nets star
Kevin Garnett has put Kyrie Irving on blast for stomping on the Boston Celtics ‘Lucky’ logo.
Garnett– who is newly minted into the NBA Hall of Fame —played six seasons with the Celtics and won a championship with the team in 2008. He still has strong feelings about his former team and took exception to Brooklyn forward Irving’s gesture during the May 30 game.
Read More: Fan arrested after throwing bottle at Kyrie Irving, faces lifetime ban
Irving stepped to the center of the court at TD Garden and made a point to drag his feet across the logo.
“So nobody going to say anything about Kyrie Stomping ‘Lucky’?” Garnett wrote Monday on Instagram. “We just gonna act like we didn’t see that.”
“TF is going on…. You can’t do that,” he continued. “That’s not coo on any level .. All of us need to be better frfr.”
Former NBA player Glenn “Big Baby” Davis, who played alongside Garnett on the Celtics, seemingly took the slight even more personally and appeared to threaten Irving while defending the ‘Lucky’ logo.
“Real bulls***,” Davis wrote. “Like I said you step on lucky you step on everybody that played for that team. Keep the s*** basketball before somebody get hurt in real life.”
Brooklyn Nets power forward Kevin Durant responded to the comment with “n***a please” and added smileys.
Garnett and Davis did not extend their criticism to the Boston Celtics fan who threw a bottle at Irving on Sunday. Boston police have cited witnesses who claim that 21-year-old Cole Buckley of Braintree, Massachusetts — who was wearing a Garnett jersey — threw a Dasani water bottle at Irving as the athlete was walking down the tunnel following his 39-point performance, which gave Brooklyn a 3-1 lead over the Celtics.
TheGrio reported that Buckley has now been banned for life from the TD Center.
“It’s unfortunate that sports has come to this crossroads where a lot of old ways are coming up,” Irving said in postgame press conference. “It’s been that way for entertainment for a long time, with underlying racism and being treated like you’re in a zoo.”
Irving went on to say that fans felt “entitled out here” simply because they bought a ticket.
“They paid for their tickets — great, I’m grateful that they’re coming in to watch a great performance. But we’re not at the theater. We’re not throwing tomatoes and other random stuff at the people that are performing.”
Durant once again had Irving’s back as he called out unruly fans for their behavior.
“Fans gotta grow up at some point,” Durant said. “When it comes to these games, you’ve got to realize these men are human. We’re not animals. We’re not in a circus…”
“Have some respect for the game. Have some respect for the human beings. And have some respect for yourself,” he went on. “Your mother wouldn’t be proud of you throwing water bottles at basketball players or spitting on players or tossing popcorn. Grow the f*** up and enjoy the game. It’s bigger than you.”
Irving, 29, was booed during the games in Boston but given his history there, he wasn’t expecting a warm welcome. He played the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons in Boston but during his tenure, the Celtics struggled, he clashed with his teammates and he wasn’t fond of the fans who he believes are racist.
Read More: Kyrie Irving speaks out about racism from Boston Celtics fans
“I mean, it’s not my first time being an opponent in Boston, so I’m just looking forward to competing with my teammates, and hopefully we can just keep it strictly basketball; there’s no belligerence or any racism going on, subtle racism and people yelling s–– from the crowd,” Irving said last week.
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