Kevin Garnett, a former NBA champion with the Celtics, was not pleased when Kyrie Irving appeared to stomp on the face of Boston mascot “Lucky the Leprechaun” at midcourt after the Nets finished off a game four win over the weekend.
"We just gonna act like we didn't see that," Garnett wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. "TF is going on...You can't do that. That's not coo on any level...All of us need to be better...I’m just sayin…"
The larger focus was on the Celtics fan that threw a water bottle at Irving after the stomping, which led to the fan’s arrest, but Garnett chose to zoom in on Irving’s midcourt stomp, as did fellow former Celtic Glen Davis, but a former Net came to Irving’s side on Tuesday.
Richard Jefferson took to Twitter to defend Irving, specifically addressing Garnett’s comments with some words of his own on Tuesday.
“Kevin Garnett has done FAR more disrespectful things on the court than what Kyrie did,” Jefferson said in his tweet. “I don’t want to hear that noise. He’s crossed that line plenty of times...plenty of times.”
Jefferson and Irving played together with the Cavaliers for two seasons, including a championship campaign in 2016, while Garnett has been often criticized for his excessive trash talk during his playing days.
With a commanding 3-1 lead in the series for Brooklyn, it’s unlikely Irving and the Nets will make another return to Boston this season.