The NBA knockouts have had enough good games to keep the first round interesting, although the NBA is often pretty lackluster this time around. Not many good games this weekend. The first two games on Saturday weren’t bad as the Jazz and Timberwolves took road wins. The Bulls kept things closer on Sunday in Milwaukee than people thought, thanks to the Bucks having had a dull night of shooting for the most part.
The weekend’s undisputed game was in Boston, where the Celtics overcame Game 1 115-114 at Jayson Tatum’s home turf. It has everything you want in a playoff game – change of leader, hero performances, drama, everything that goes into the advertising campaign.
Sadly, it’s being overshadowed by Kyrie Irving breaking through the Boston crowd. I’m sure there will be plenty of experts sticking their tongues out about Irving in the coming days, citing “professionalism” or “maturity” or “part of the job.” Most of them don’t have drunk Bostonians scolding them at close range… or they are drunk Bostonians scolding people at close range.
There’s little doubt that Irving heard some bad things from Celtics fans in Game 1, because we’ve been down this road before. Celtics fans, and Boston fans in general, have a reputation they’ve absolutely earned by pushing boundaries. After all, subtly flipping the bird isn’t about rushing into the stands. Cue someone shouting “Won’t anyone think of the kids?!”
On the other side, Irving watched his brain turn spongy when he had to hug his own farts for something he read once, and got the chance to call himself a jerk. martyrdom for some kind. And become a symbol for every asshole out there who mistook “MAH FREEDOM” for just being a selfish, lazy asshole who let the rest of us down. Honestly, people like Irving should be the ones getting yelled at wherever they go, within reason, rather than vice versa, where all the assholes are honing every social tool. Society will also become the screamers of the rest of us when we’re just trying to get to the office or the store.
That’s not to say anyone should share some of what Irving may have heard on Sunday afternoon. Kyrie is one of the few anti-vax dipshits that is on display to us rather than hidden behind Twitter profiles or covered by a bunch or a group of political press who stand for everything. Kyrie has to deal with music, which I guess is somewhat new.
All of this is basically we all lose this war. Kyrie isn’t really facing anything for missing out on a season so he can get lost in the empty convention center between his ears. New York protocols and the Nets’ willpower were both in his favor, not the other way around.
And we all want to see Kyrie eat shit, which makes the loud people near the Garden feel more encouraged, and that’s where things often get ugly. And Nets fans will probably feel an urge to respond as the series moves there. And no Boston fan has ever been a sympathizer or someone you’d want to hang out with if you weren’t already part of the group.
Everyone was booed in this dispute. Let’s hope Boston wipes out now so it ends as quickly as possible.
