Celtics' Jayson Tatum Doesn't Want 'a Few Bad Seeds' to 'Overshadow' the Rest of Fans
A 21-year-old Boston Celtics fan, Cole Buckley, was charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon Sunday after throwing a water bottle at Kyrie Irving as he walked off the court following the Brooklyn Nets' 141-126 win over Boston.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum said after the contest that the incident was unacceptable, but he didn't want a few bad fans defining the entire fanbase.
“Eighteen thousand people in the building, I guess in every arena there are a few bad seeds," he told reporters. "I don’t want that to overshadow the rest of the fans who came and supported us tonight...but obviously there is no place in the NBA for throwing anything at a player.”
As the Nets were shaking hands and celebrating on the court after Sunday's win, it appeared as though Irving stepped on the head of the Celtics' logo at midcourt:
As Irving was walking back into the locker room, Buckley allegedly threw the water bottle at him, with witnesses telling the Boston Police Department the bottle lightly grazed Irving's head, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.
"You can see that people just feel very entitled out here," Irving told reporters after the incident. "They paid for their tickets—great, I'm grateful that they're coming in to watch a great performance. But we're not at the theater. We're not throwing tomatoes and other random stuff at the people that are performing."
Irving told reporters last week that he hoped his return to the TD Garden after two seasons with the Celtics could be kept about "strictly basketball; there's no belligerence or racism going on—subtle racism. People yelling s--t from the crowd, but even if it is, it's part of the nature of the game and we're just going to focus on what we can control."
When asked if he has experienced racism at the TD Garden, he responded he "was not the only one that can attest to this."
Fan behavior has become a major issue during this year's NBA postseason, with many teams and cities allowing a significant number of fans back in attendance as more people become vaccinated.
In the past week alone, a Philadelphia 76ers fan dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook, a New York Knicks fan spit on Trae Young, and Utah Jazz fans hurled racial slurs at Ja Morant's family. In each instance, the fans were permanently banned from those arenas.
