BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 2: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics dribbles
After an awful Game 4 performance in which he went 7/22 from the field, Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving said: “From this point on I don’t think you’ll see another eight for 22.”
Irving was right. Instead, he went seven-for-22, his team losing by an additional five points and the team’s young leader leaving the court before the final buzzer even sounded.
Over the past three games, Irving has gone 19-for-62 from the field, easily the worst three-game stretch of playoff basketball in his entire career. While Boston won Game 1 in a convincing fashion, they’ve cratered since then and have come up short in almost every possible way, losing both of the two games played at the TD Garden.
When asked about his shooting issues, Irving responded, “Who cares?” And quite suddenly that’s becoming the attitude of Celtics fans who once clamored as the team shipped off its heart and soul, Isaiah Thomas, for the young guard who’d helped LeBron James win a championship for Cleveland. But after a season in which he’s pushed his flat Earth beliefs, spread conspiracy theories and has swayed back and forth about returning to the team or leaving it, fans are fed up with Irving.
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That’s not to mention that the team has looked for a leader in him and got none. When asked if drawing on his experience with the Cavs and overcoming a 3-1 Warriors lead in the 2016 NBA Finals could help him and his younger teammates, Irving replied: “It’s hard to make any comparisons.” He added, “the difference is just experience.”
However, Irving insisted that he was confident in his team. When asked about it, he said, “It’s unwavering.” The guard would go on to say: “It’s the game of basketball. At this point, we obviously understand the X’s and O’s. It’s just going out and trying to manage the game better.”
However, when asked why he left his teammates early and walked down the tunnel to Boston’s home locker room for what may be the last time in his career, all he could muster was “the game was over.”
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