Brooklyn Nets star point guard, Kyrie Irving, faced the first ejection of his career in the highly anticipated NBA game against Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night.
The All-Star Irving and Lakers’ Dennis Schroder involved in a technical foul with 9:41 left in the third quarter. Right after the foul, the two guards started chaos in the court and exchanged some heated conversation. Although Schroder stopped talking, Irving continued to argue, which makes the referee to remove both of them from the game.
Kyrie Irving and Dennis Schroder were both ejected after getting into it during the third quarter. pic.twitter.com/i2UEyKba3m
— ESPN (@espn) April 11, 2021
Later the Nets lost the game by 126-101. In a post-game interview, Kevin Durant spoke about their loss, and he did not think Irving’s ejection led them to lose the game.
“We were in the game man but I’m not gonna blame it on the ejection while the momentum switch, we should they got it going so we should have got it going,” KD said about the ejection and momentum of the game.
Kyrie Irving against the Lakers
Before the ejection, Irving played 21 minutes and scored 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting with four rebounds. While Irving ejected 9 minutes, 41 seconds remained in the third quarter, the Nets were trailing 66-62.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 10: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Brooklyn Nets reacts after ejected from the game. Credit: Getty Images
Irving was aggressive during his 21 minutes of playing. The Lakers jumped out of the 18-7 lead with a 54% shot in the first quarter. With Kyrie’s performance, the Nets were able to trail the opponent. Further, they were only four pints behind while Irving was removed. So, it is assumed that Kyrie’s removal shifted the momentum to the Lakers.
Irving has played 566 games in his ten NBA seasons, and he has been doing an outstanding job this season with an average of 28 points per game. If Kyrie was not ejected, he could have contributed more against the Lakers.
Watch: Kyrie Irving dancing around with crazy handles and make a fool out of Pelicans’ Steven Adams
