Nets belt the Celts
Lead series 3-1
HOOLIGAN ARRESTED AFTER IRVING BURNS FORMER TEAM FOR 39 IN GAME 4 ROUT
BOSTON — From boos to curses to even a thrown water bottle, the Celtics fans gave Kyrie Irving hate. He gave them a show.
And by time Irving and the rest of Brooklyn’s Big 3 were done, they had cruised to a 141-126 Game 4 rout to frustrate a sellout crowd of 17,226 at TD Garden.
It was a performance that showed what Brooklyn can be. And it was a performance from the Boston fans that reminded what Irving had warned about.
The highest-scoring output in Nets playoff history — with 104 points from Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden — so frustrated the fans that one flung a water bottle at Irving as he walked off the court. But Irving walked off victorious, with a commanding 3-1 series lead and a chance to close out the Celtics in Tuesday’s Game 5 at Barclays Center.
“It’s unfortunate that sports has come to a lot of this kind of crossroads where we’re seeing a lot of old ways come up,” Irving said. “It’s been that way in history in terms of entertainers, performers and sports for a very long time, underlying racism and treating people like they’re in a human zoo, throwing stuff at people, saying things. There’s a point where it gets to be too much. So I called it out.”
Irving had 39 points, while Durant poured in a game-high 42 and James Harden added 23 with 18 assists.
After Irving had just 16 in Friday’s Game 3 loss — and only two at halftime, with the Nets digging themselves into a hole — he was aggressive from the start Sunday.
“I mean that’s Kyrie Irving. He didn’t have a great game last time out. My money is on him any time after a performance like he had [Friday],” coach Steve Nash said. “Kyrie was just more aggressive. He was just determined. You could see his willpower to score and affect the game.”
Irving was in full Uncle Drew mode, with an array of crossovers, side-steps and even dunks. What
was more impressive than his glitz was his grit, the smallest Nets regular grabbing 11 rebounds.
“Mental toughness? One of the best I’ve ever seen,” Harden said of Irving. “For him, all the emotions going through his mind, I’m sure a million things go through his mind. He goes out there, blocks everything out and just be himself and from a guy that probably would say he didn’t play his best game in Game 3 came in and had a killer instinct and a will to win Game 4.
“When Ky’s aggressive like that, nobody can guard him.”
Irving’s toughness — and the energy of Nic Claxton, who had a career-high four blocks in just a fiveminute cameo during a pivotal 23-10 run — set the tone.
“I’ve been part of a lot of hostile environments since I was a kid,” Irving said. “It’s not the first time in my life that I’ve had to bounce back from one of those types of performances that isn’t typical of me, in terms of the big stage.”
After Brooklyn fell behind 24-15 on a three-point play by Jayson Tatum (40 points), they immediately bore down and turned the game. They went on a 23-10 run that spanned the first and second quarters, taking a 38-34 edge on a Harden step back 3.
The Nets outscored the Celtics 40-26 in that second quarter to take a 73-60 lead into the locker room.
It was tied for the highest-scoring half of postseason basketball in team history.
And this time, the Nets never took their foot off the gas.
By the time Harden found Landry Shamet for a 3-pointer with 1:20 left in the third, they had padded their cushion to 110-83.
The rest was garbage time — including the garbage move by the Celtics fan of throwing a bottle at Irving’s head.
“When you come to these games, you’ve got to realize that these men are human. We’re not animals, we’re not in a circus,” Durant said. “Have some respect for the game, have respect for these human beings, and have some respect for yourself. Your mother wouldn’t be proud of you throwing water bottles at players, or spitting at players or tossing popcorn, so grow the f--k up and enjoy the game.”