Was Win Over Celtics Extra Special For Kyrie Irving? Nets Star Explains

Kyrie Irving finally played a regular-season game back at TD Garden, and perhaps Celtics fans now are wishing he never returned.

The Brooklyn Nets guard, certainly to his pleasure, got to do it for the first time without fans in the building, too. It meant there were no “Where Is Kyrie?” or the always humorous “Kyrie Sucks!” chants ringing throughout the building. It also meant there was nobody there to witness the 123-95 defeat dealt to the Celtics on Christmas.

Regardless, Irving looked as comfortable as ever in his return to Boston (maybe it was the sage still lingering). He finished with a game-high 37 points on 13-for-21 from the floor and added eight assists and six rebounds in 33 minutes.

A return to the Garden, though he played a preseason game there last week, and a win in said return must have felt extra special for Irving, right?

“No. No. Like I said the other night, I went to war with those guys, those young guys down there. I got to stop calling them young guys, they’re growing so beautifully and I want them to continue to get better,” Irving told the ABC postgame broadcast. “And we’re going to continue to lean on each other as brothers off the floor, but on the floor we’re going to continue to compete.”

Irving was asked a similar question in his postgame availability to reporters, and said there was “nothing added” to this game.

“No. I’m just grateful that we’re all healthy, and that we’re all able to play the game that we love,” Irving said, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “Obviously, competing against those guys, competing against the coaches that I had almost a year-and-a-half ago, like I said, I’m grateful. We’re going to continue to see them, we’re in the same division, so to get us started here in Boston, nothing added.”

The Nets move to 2-0 on the season while the Celtics fell to 1-1.

Thumbnail photo via Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images