Kyrie Irving told teammates he was going to “act up” before scoring 40 points in front of family on Christmas

BOSTON - Kyrie Irving had over 20 family members in attendance for the Boston Celtics 121-114 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day at TD Garden, and the all-star point guard put on a show for each and every one of them. Irving finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists in the overtime thrillers. He says he told his teammates what was on the horizon before tip-off on Tuesday evening.

“Well I told my teammates, I came in the locker room and I said ‘My family is here is to watch me play,’” said Irving. “‘I got like 20-plus people from my family here, so I’m acting up. Like, you guys have no idea, I’m so excited.’ I don’t really get the chance to have family all in one place, and most my family for that matter, so it means a lot to me. They haven’t really seen me play since I was a kid. Everybody here, my aunts, my uncles, my friends, it just meant a lot to me.”

Irving gave his family a nice Christmas present right off the bat, scoring 16 of his game-high 40 points in the first quarter. He didn’t stop from there, no matter who Philadelphia threw his way. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Irving was guarded to perfection by Jimmy Butler, but still managed to convert a difficult, contested, fadeaway jumper to send the game to overtime. He acted up in the extra period as well.

As Irving put it, “It’s just the Christmas spirit, man.”

Check out everything Irving had to say after their Christmas Day win below: