Kyrie's Homecoming

The Boston Celtics beat Kyrie Irving's newest team, the Brooklyn Nets 126-120 on Sunday, and Shank writes about the warm, loving Boston reception Kyrie got:

The Garden was not a stomping ground this time for the unfiltered Kyrie Irving

Given all the history and weirdness, it seemed appropriate that Kyrie Irving made his return to the parquet floor one day after Boston’s indoor mask mandate was lifted.

Kyrie got the Rick Pitino-Manny Machado-Ulf Samuelsson reception you’d expect, but he was not the story of this day. The story of this day was Jayson Tatum (54 points) and the Celtics prevailing down the stretch of a thrilling 126-120 victory over the hot-mess Brooklyn Nets.

We saw two engaged teams go back and forth for more than 46 minutes before Tatum and the Celtics dropped the hammer. Celtic fans got their last laugh, chanting “Kyrie sucks,” when Jaylen Brown went to the line with 31.3 seconds left and victory secure.