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Kyrie Irving Hopes To Not Encounter Racism In First Game Back In Boston

After the 2017-2018 NBA season, everyone thought that the Boston Celtics would develop into a serious contender for years to come.

A young team that lost both their All-Stars, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving, who both underwent season-ending surgeries, made the Conference Finals. Boston’s young core (Tatum, Brown, Rozier) played brilliantly and made the fans almost forget about Irving and Hayward.

Then, the following season in 2018-19, with the two stars healthy and playing again, everyone expected the Celtics to be the East’s top dog and the start of them being a contender for many years. But in reality, the team was struggling all year long. They never managed to build chemistry and act like an actual team, leading to Kyrie Irving eventually leaving town.

Fast forward to today, the Celtics are currently playing their first round series of the playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets – Kyrie Irving’s ‘new’ team. Game 3 will take place in Boston on Friday, and in the previous games the Nets played in Boston, he was booed, and made fun of, even when he wasn’t physically present.

Before Friday’s game though – the first game Irving will play in Boston since his exit – he offered some advice to what definitely will be a hostile Boston crowd, hoping that they won’t use subtle racism.

“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. But even if it is, it’s part of the nature of the game, and I’m just going to focus on what I can control.”

Kendrick Perkins responds to Kyrie Irving’s strong comments about returning to TD Garden with fans for Game 3 pic.twitter.com/4TAfJeAB3i

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 26, 2021