National Basketball Association

Should Kyrie Irving have engaged with Celtics fans?

Updated Apr. 18, 2022 3:16 p.m. ET

Kyrie Irving is done taking abuse from Boston Celtics fans, and he didn't hold anything back during or after Brooklyn's Game 1 playoff loss at Boston on Sunday.

Irving and Celtics fans — who've had a long history of disdain towards each other since the former left the latter — went back-and-forth throughout the riveting face-off, which was won on a last-second Jayson Tatum layup as time expired.

There's certainly no love lost between the two sides, and though they once enjoyed an amiable partnership during Irving's two years in green, Boston's faithful quickly turned cold after Irving departed for Brooklyn in 2019. What made matters worse for the relationship: Irving had assured Cs fans that he'd sign a long-term contract extension.

And Boston fans haven't forgotten the broken promise.

They gave Irving earfuls during Sunday's contest, and though he generally appears unmoved by crowd insults, he was fully engaged with the audience all afternoon, responding with mocking gestures, sarcastic crying faces, and even a double-bird to some particular patrons in the front row.

"When people start yelling [expletives] it's but so much you can take as a competitor," Irving commented on the spats.

"We're the ones expected to be docile and humble — nah f*** that. It's not every fan, I don't want to attack every Boston fan. Where I'm from, I'm used to all these antics. It's the same energy they have for me, I'm going to have it for them. I know what to expect in here, this isn't really my first time in TD Garden. I'm not really focused on it. It's fun. You relish it as a competitor. All's fair in competition. If somebody's going to call me out of my name, I'm going to look at them straight in the eye and see if they're about it. Most of the time they're not."

Irving did all he could to back up his disses on the court, pouring in 39 points to complement six assists, five boards and four steals in what was a splendid display of scoring efficiency.

But his efforts were fruitless, and his Nets are now staring down Game 2 with a difficult 0-1 hole to overcome.

And according to Shannon Sharpe, Irving's friction with his opponent is going to make his own team's efforts that much harder.

"I have a problem with it," Sharpe stated Monday on "Undisputed."

"I get Kyrie's frustration. He's absolutely right: The fans can be unrelenting. But I can only imagine what it's going to be like Wednesday. If they saw the reaction they got out of him after Sunday's game, can you imagine? Now they're about to turn the heat up. They're saying things they would never say to you if they saw you on the street."

Skip Bayless shared a different point of view.

"I don't have a problem with this," Bayless said.

"Of all the athletes I've ever closely observed, no athlete marches to the beat of his own drum the way that Kyrie does. He wants to shatter every mold in and out of basketball. This is Kyrie flipping the script on fans and saying ‘I’m going to have the same energy. I'm going to go back at you just as hard as you come at me.' These players are sick and tired of the verbal abuse they are forced to just live with. Now it feels like the fans feel more empowered than ever.

This is the first time I can recall where the fans had a negative impact on the game. He had 18 points in the fourth quarter. The more they heckled, the more shots they made. It appeared that Kyrie was actually feeding off their vitriol, and that was a beautiful thing to watch. The more shots he makes, the quieter they'll get."

Kyrie Irving claps back at Celtics fans

In his return to Boston, Kyrie Irving played like a man on a mission during the Brooklyn Nets' Game 1 loss to the Celtics. Skip Bayless reacts to Kyrie clapping back at the fans.

Nick Wright implored Irving to embrace his newfound role as an NBA villain.

"I don't even care that Kyrie flips people off," he asserted on "First Things First."

"What I care about is the ‘where does all this come from? What have I ever done? Why can’t we just move on?' Buddy! Here's the timeline: Signs with the Celtics. First year there, it doesn't go great, he skips out on Game 7, doesn't sit with his team on the bench. That was odd. Then that summer, ‘I’ll be here for life if you'll have me', immediately starts planning to play with Kevin Durant. He gets asked about that and is like ‘two friends can't just chat? What is wrong with you guys? By the way, the young players on this team stink and they're selfish. They need to follow me.'"

If Game 1 wasn't already must-see TV, Game 2 will be nothing short of that. And Irving just became the series' undisputed main character.