Duke basketball: Fan flings bottle at former Blue Devil

A Duke basketball product looks to have been a target of a plastic product.

On Sunday night, the No. 2 seed Brooklyn Nets notched a 141-126 win at the No. 7 seed Boston Celtics to gain a 3-1 lead in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Just before walking toward the locker room afterward, Nets guard and former Duke basketball one-and-done Kyrie Irving (2010-11) stomped on the leprechaun logo at halfcourt.

Well, that wasn’t nice. Yet it made sense. After all, Irving unceremoniously left Boston for Brooklyn as a free agent in the summer of 2019. And this was the seven-time All-Star’s first playoff victory as a visitor in TD Garden.

What didn’t make much sense — at least to most civil folks — was that an apparent Celtics fan tossed a water bottle, seemingly intended for the head of Irving, just as the 6-foot-2 creative playmaker was entering the tunnel.

According to a tweet later on from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Boston Police ultimately arrested the fella after security had escorted him out of the arena. The alleged bottle-tossing man also earned a lifetime ban from the building.

Irving, meanwhile, showed a tad more restraint in the heat of the moment than Washington Wizards sensation Russell Westbrook had after a Philadelphia 76ers patron dumped popcorn on his head late Wednesday night.

However, when speaking to the media after the game about the fact that this sort of thing is becoming an all-too-common occurrence thus far in this postseason, the notoriously deep-thinking Irving didn’t shy away from completely condemning the behavior:

“People just feel very entitled out here. You know, they pay for the tickets, great. I’m grateful that they’re coming in to watch a great performance. But it’s just, we’re not at the theater. We’re not throwing tomatoes and other random stuff at the people that are performing. It’s just too much. And it’s a reflection on us as a whole when you have fans acting like that.”

Irving continued:

“We keep saying things like, we’re human, we’re human. But we don’t get treated like we have rights when we’re out there at times and people feel entitled to go and do things like that.”

Two Duke basketball faces shining on the big stage

Kyrie Irving finished with 39 points for the Brooklyn Nets to go along with 11 rebounds, two assists, and two steals across 41 minutes on the floor.

Now, add all of that to the 40 points in 40 minutes plus seven rebounds, five assists, one steal, and two blocks from Boston Celtics two-time All-Star forward and former one-year Blue Devil Jayson Tatum (2016-17). Furthermore, yet another one-and-done out of Durham, forward Jabari Parker, contributed 10 points, six rebounds, one assist, and one block to the losing effort.

Yup, doing the math, it appears the trio of Duke basketball talents combined for 89 points, 22 boards, eight dimes, three steals, and three blocks in a high-profile playoff clash.

Some lofty Dukie stats, indeed. Dodged water bottle and all.