A NBC Sports Boston graphic on Kyrie Irving.
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There’s a long history of regional sports networks trolling opposing players and teams with on-screen graphics, and NBC Sports Boston added to that Wednesday night. After the Boston Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets 114-107 to take a 2-0 lead in that first-round playoff series, NBC Sports Boston put up quite the graphic for a post-game press conference from Nets’ point guard Kyrie Irving (who recently was fined $50,000 for his three raised middle fingers and explicit comments towards Boston fans in the series’ first game):

That is a notable move by NBC Sports Boston, especially with the “as far as we know” below the main line. And the timing here adds to it, with this coming after quite a disappointing performance from Irving (particularly compared to the 39 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals he put up in Game 1; here, his best non-points stat was 10 rebounds, and he added one steal and one assist). If Irving had come out with another great individual performance in a loss, this RSN trolling would seem a little weaker, but with his actual stat line being unimpressive, it fits a bit more.

At any rate, it’s interesting to see a RSN come out with this kind of reference for an opposing player in a playoff series. We’ll see if NBC Sports Boston continues to troll Irving throughout this series; Game 3 is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

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About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

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