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Kevin Durant spoke up harshly against a fan who threw a water bottle at Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving at TD Garden. The incident occurred as Irving was walking back to the locker room following the Nets' game on Sunday.
The Brooklyn Nets had just defeated the Boston Celtics with a 141-126 rout to secure a 3-1 lead in their first-round NBA Playoffs series.
The contemptible act naturally got under the skin of Kevin Durant who didn’t mince words when it came to speaking up about the incident. He said:
“Have some respect for the human beings and have some respect for yourself. Your mother wouldn’t be proud of you throwing water bottles at basketball players or spitting on players or tossing popcorn.”
Durant added:
"Grow the f--k up and enjoy the game."
The incident was perhaps a response after Kyrie Irving torched the Boston Celtics with a 39-point and 11-rebound outing.
Irving had critics all over him after he shot 6-of-17 in Game 3, believing that the crowd got into his head. He shot a mere 11-of-24 from the field in Game 4 but was able to knock in 6-of-12 from beyond the arc.
Kevin Durant led the Brooklyn Nets with 42 points.
Kyrie Irving’s response to bottle-throwing by a fan
In the postgame interview, Kyrie Irving was also asked about his thoughts on the bottle-throwing incident after Game 4.
The former Boston Celtics guard brought up racism in his comments, something he feared would come up for Games 3 and 4 at TD Garden. He said:
“You're seeing a lot of old ways come up... just underlying racism and treating people like they're in a human zoo. Throwing stuff at people, saying things. There is a certain point where it gets to be too much.”
This is just the latest incident in the last week that involved a fan throwing something at a player.
Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook was doused in popcorn by an unruly fan in Philadelphia, while the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young was spat on by a fan at Madison Square Garden in New York in their respective playoff games.
Also Read: 3 Times Chris Paul's injuries derailed his team in the NBA Playoffs
