Kyrie Irving was so mad. Oh, man, the Boston Celtics star point guard was fuming. It didn't help his team was about to lose in the closing seconds Monday night, but what Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray did was a level of disrespect he wasn't about to tolerate.
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As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Denver's 115-107 win over Boston at the Pepsi Center, the game virtually over just before the buzzer sounded, Murray launched a 3-pointer to cap off a magical night. He missed, leaving himself with a career-high 48 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter, but going for the 50-spot really irked Irving.
So as the players were leaving the floor, Irving took the ball and chucked it into the stands, and perhaps a different orbit, before exiting.
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Was there any malice behind Murray taking the shot? No. Was there any real reason why he should have shot it? Not really, other than Murray might never have the chance to drop 50 points ever again. Did Irving get his money's worth for launching the ball as far as he could? Absolutely.
"The ball deserves to go into the crowd after a bulls*** move like that, so I threw it in the crowd." — Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving
On Tuesday, the league fined the NBA All-Star guard $25,000. For a player making over $20 million in salary alone this season, he likely won't miss the money. It's the principle of the matter that counts and Irving wasn't going to allow that to happen.
Not to mention, Irving balled out himself during the game, scoring 31 points on 13-for-17 shooting with five rebounds and five assists.
However, it was Murray who stole the show and took one more shot to get even more glory.
Just go ahead and circle March 18 on the calendar right now, when the Celtics host the Nuggets in Boston, because you know Irving is already looking forward to the rematch.
