Kyrie Irving could have set TD Garden on fire with sage, but it wasn't going alter the karma that caught up to him Friday night.
No, the comeuppance isn't about Irving's passive-aggressive assertion that Boston is more of a racist city than others. This was about the entire package, which, of course, included his choice when it came to the execution and timing of that postseason postgame message the other night.
Irving said what he said after Wednesday's game because he was in the driver's seat, riding along with a team that could say and do whatever they want before easily and neatly putting the Celtics in the rearview mirror. The guess is that if the Nets lost that game (or even a game), the always-uncomfortable race issue would have never been surfaced.
But now ... Well, Irving finds himself in a dramatically different place. For that he can only blame himself.
The first, and perhaps most powerful, slap in the face for Irving came about 1 1/2 hours before tip-off. That was when Jaylen Brown uttered these words: "I think that racism should be addressed, and systemic racism should be addressed in the city of Boston, and also the United States. However, I do not like the manner it was brought up, centering around a playoff game. The construct of racism, right? It’s used as a crutch or an opportunity to execute a personal gain. I’m not saying that’s the case. But I do think racism is bigger than basketball, and I do think racism is bigger than Game 3 of the playoffs."
(By the way, holy mackerel, Brown nailed his response to the Irving-induced controversy.)
Finally, Irving's act was called out by someone wearing a uniform. And it was done so in such a "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed" kind of way, all that was missing was the "now go to your room" directive for Kyrie.
In some ways, Irving did give himself a timeout, staying in the locker room away from the 5,000 TD Garden meanies until there was eight minutes left showing on the clock before the start of the game.
For some players, they truly relish the hate. That isn't Irving.
He avoided coming back to TD Garden when there were fans, leaning on his injury. And on this night, the constant signaling from the guard to get louder each time the showering of venom came his way seemed more discomfort than bravado.
More proof of Irving's uneasiness came in the form of how he played. In the first half there was a total of two points, with the Nets guard seemingly more than willing to run away from the center of attention with very little offensive intent.
Then, when real heavy-duty verbiage started getting thrown Irving's way (particularly after fouling Marcus Smart on a made three-pointer in the fourth quarter), Irving dabbled in some hero ball. Spoiler: He was no hero.
Not only did Irving do very little to help his team offensively, but the Celtics absolutely torched him on the other end, finding ways for Kyrie to land in the Jayson Tatum Torture Chamber time and time again.
The Nets would lose, and so would Irving.
Now, in the words of Michael Scott, how the turntables ... (have turned).
Kyrie opened the door and Sunday night 19,000 fans will be walking in to say hello.
"I mean, it's basketball," Irving said. "I've been in a few environments in my life. So like I said, as long as it's just strictly the nature of basketball out there, it's nothing extra. I'm cool with it. Going to get some preparation with the team tomorrow and then get prepared for Sunday, but want to keep it straight basketball."
Okee-dokee.