User:ColeTheeMan/sandbox

Boston struggled with injuries in the 2020–21 season, with Walker, Tatum and Brown all missing games at different points in the season due to injury and COVID-19. The injury of Brown was particularly impactful as he would miss the playoffs. Boston could not automatically qualify for the playoffs and were sent to the play-in tournament where they defeated the Washington Wizards 119–100. In the playoffs they lost to the Brooklyn Nets in five games. With a highlight being Jayson Tatum's 50 point game in a Game 3 victory. After the 4th game of the series, a Celtics fan threw a plastic water bottle at Nets star Kyrie Irving. When asked about it after the game, Irving talked about the “underlying racism” that leads to fans treating athletes like they're in a “human zoo”. This was not the former Celtic’s first time speaking out against racism in Boston. Before the playoff series, he was asked whether or not he experienced racism while in the garden and responded “I'm not the only one who can attest to this but - it is what is”. Irving was not alone in sharing this sentiment. After the incident, several players shared their experience including Celtics center Tristan Thompson and guard Marcus Smart, who wrote about an encounter with a Celtics fan who had called him a slur in the Players Tribune the summer before the season.