Celtics Notes ahead of Game 2
Celtics Notes
- Game 1 at the Garden was an instant classic. Kyrie Irving going back-and-forth with the fans, Al Horford shutting up Bruce Brown, the incredible ball movement on the final buzzer beater. If Sunday’s contest is any indication, we’re in for the greatest first round playoff series since Celtics-Bulls in 2009.
- As a result of his antics before and during the game, Kyrie has been fined $50,000 by the league. Definitely not strict enough of a penalty to ensure that we won’t see him doing the same shit on Wednesday night, because you know the Garden crowd won’t be scaling back the aggression.
- Marcus Smart has finally been announced as the 2020 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Gary Payton, the last guard to win the award, came to the Celtics’ practice facility to break the news to Smart.
- Kyrie went bananas in Game 1, Kevin Durant did not. The likelihood of KD having back-to-back subpar performances is slim to none. The Celtics haven’t seen the best of Brooklyn yet, and they know this.
- KD spoke on the Boston fans vs. Kyrie feud and completely missed the mark on why we all hate him:
Kevin Durant on Celtics fans’ hostility toward Kyrie Irving: “It’s rooted in love. They once loved you…had life altering experiences coming to games watching you play. So when it gets ripped from them in a trade…it feels like a piece of them is gone too.” pic.twitter.com/P1b6jNnrDq
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) April 19, 2022
I don’t even need to explain why this is wrong. Following this logic, we would have booed Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett when they were in Brooklyn.
Game 2 takes place on Wednesday night in Boston. Tip-off at 7:30.