Shaquille O’Neal has disapproved of Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving’s on-field antics during the first game of the playoffs this season. Irving was seen flipping off the hostile Celtics crowd on multiple occasions. Irving left the Boston Celtics for the Brooklyn Nets back in 2019. On his return to TD garden arena, Irving was met with sheer animosity by the home crowd.
Later in the press conference, Irving justified his actions saying “I was matching the energy the crowd gave me”. But NBA legends, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley were less than pleased with Irving. Shaq pointed out that his fellow analyst Charles Barkley had also been met with similar malice from crowds throughout his career.
“Well if the great Bill Russel went through it, I want to go through it also! I don’t want to hear all that!” said Shaq after listening to Irving’s rant to the press. Charles Barkley even went as far as to call it “whining” on Irving’s part.
The experts predicted that the crowd will act even more hostile toward Irving in the later matches. They advised him to just ignore the crowd and play the game!
With a lot of games left in the Nets-Celtics series, the hostilities between Irving and the Boston fans are bound to boil over!
