LeBron James knows a thing or two about being booed by fans. When he ditched the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to join the Miami Heat, James was aggressively booed by the fans at Quicken Loans Arena. In addition, he was hearing a lot of negative chants on top of all the boos. LeBron was even booed by Heat fans when he made his first return to South Beach in a Cavs jersey, but it wasn’t as severe as his return to Cleveland.
When Kyrie Irving forced his way out of Cleveland this summer, many eagerly waited for opening night when he coincidentally would make his return to the Q in a Boston Celtics uniform.
The timing of Irving’s return couldn’t have been any better, making the first game of the season for both teams very intriguing.
After what transpired in the offseason, it was expected that Irving would receive boos from the crowd, which was the case Tuesday night on TNT. Every time Irving touched the ball, the fans booed him but did not chant anything negative toward him.
Kyrie Irving’s return to Cleveland was pleasant
“That was nothing,” James told reporters after the game. “What do you want me to say? I’ve experienced big boos before. That was like a pat on the back. It could never…I love our fans to death. That was nothing.” (according to Yahoo Sports).
Perhaps it was because the building became deflated after Gordon Hayward’s gruesome ankle injury.
After that scary incident, the crowd’s energy level instantly went down, and they stopped booing Irving. Even the players were disappointed by the injury, as some were kneeling on the ground to pray and others were huddled together, nearly crying.
Either way, it was a fairly pleasant return for Irving. He wasn’t bashed by the fans too much, and despite losing Hayward, his team battled and made it an interesting contest after being down big in the first half.
Irving finished with 22 points, 10 assists, four rebounds, and three steals in his debut with the Celtics but air-balled the potential game-tying three-point field goal at the buzzer. After the game, Irving shook hands with all his former teammates, keeping things cordial following all of the trade controversy.
What’s next for the Boston Celtics?
Irving and the Celtics will head home to play host to the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday evening in Kyrie’s debut at Boston Garden. He will surely be greeted with loud cheers at TD Garden, as he hopes to lead his team to its first win of the young season.
