The Celtics spent their Tuesday night at Boston Children’s Hospital, visiting with patients, singing Christmas carols and, apparently, debating who’s the best in college basketball.

A young fan was showing off his basketball expertise and wound up in a pretty passionate debate with Kyrie Irving, prodding at his alma mater’s 89-87 loss in the Duke-Gonzaga game at the Maui Invitational earlier this season.

Earlier at @BostonChildrens @KyrieIrving got into a (semi-heated) argument about @DukeMBB/ College basketball ?? pic.twitter.com/DZZZTVZGcQ — Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) December 5, 2018

“Woah, we were just talking about Michigan and UNC,” Irving replied to the boy’s mention of Duke’s loss. “You didn’t have to bring Duke into it, Duke was fine, we were good!”


It quickly became clear that this Kyrie fan did not double as a Duke fan. Eventually the boy did admit that Duke is one of the best teams in college hoops, but only after coach Brad Stevens asked him what he honestly thought of Duke, sans biases.

In addition to some friendly debate, Irving gifted another patient an exclusive pair of his sneakers.

.@KyrieIrving gave young Demetres at @BostonChildrens an EXCLUSIVE (1 of 1 made) pair of Kyrie’s ?? … yes, we’re crying pic.twitter.com/6OeQ9LiGKl — Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) December 5, 2018

The Celtics rounded out their visit with a performance of a classic Christmas carol, topping off the night with smiles and good cheer— even after the Duke trash talk.