Kyrie Irving has been fined a hefty $25,000 by the NBA. The Boston Celtics Point Guard had fired the ball into the audience out of frustration after the 107:115 bankruptcy against the Denver Nuggets.
Irving was angry for one reason in particular: Although the game had already been decided, Jamal Murray sent a threesome on the journey in the final seconds. The Nuggets-Guard already had a career high of 48 points on its account at this time.
Later Murray admitted that he still wanted to break the 50-point mark and therefore tried the threesome – Irving didn’t like that at all.
“He was our biggest concern that evening and he sank some difficult throws,” said the Celt, acknowledging before expressing clear criticism of Murray’s behaviour in the last seconds: “But after such a bullshit the ball simply deserved to be thrown away.
Usually it is after such a strong performance like Murray’s usual that the hero receives the match ball as a souvenir. Irving obviously wanted to prevent this and threw the ball in a high arc into the audience. He has now been fined by the league for this.