Welcome to the new NBA, where the intensity of the playoffs can only be matched by the pettiness of its players. Take for example how Boston Celtics point guard Terry Rozier just arrived at a game wearing a Drew Bledsoe New England Patriots jersey in an apparent gesture to troll the heck out of a helpless and L-taking Milwaukee Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe.
That’s not all.
During Monday’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Celtics, the crowd inside the TD Garden chanted “Not a rookie” while Sixers point guard Ben Simmons was taking a free throw. Of course, this savagery from Boston fans immediately went viral, as videos of the chant were shared across different social media platforms.
Celtics fans chanting 🗣"not a rookie" at Ben Simmons 😂 pic.twitter.com/RUQUAgDiDA
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 1, 2018
Bleacher Report posted it on its House of Highlights Instagram account and got a like and a comment from a very interesting individual – Utah Jazz guard and Simmons’ chief rival for the Rookie of the Year award, Donovan Mitchell.
Donovan…👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/sL76y4l3bm
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 1, 2018
Mitchell has long been campaigning for his own candidacy to win the ROY honors. Ben Simmons is currently viewed as the favorite to take the plum home, but for Mitchell, he is the truer rookie between the two considering that he was drafted just last year while Simmons entered the league in 2016, albeit missing his first year in the NBA because of an injury.
Both Simmons’ Sixers and Mitchell’s Jazz are coming off losses in their respective second-round opening games, so they’d rather focus on their next outings than engage in another installment of rookie petty wars.
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