Kyrie Irving did not hold back after Celtics’ loss against Orland a couple of nights ago, as the final play did not go their way and the young Celtic players had to bear the brunt of Kyrie frustration.
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Uncle Drew emphasised on the fact that performing in clutch situations defines you as players and as a team, and the Celtics had failed to achieve that this season.
He questioned the mentality of the players and wanted them to step us because if the Celtics want to go deep in the playoffs, the players will need to think more clearly during clutch situations.
“The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship-level team,” Irving had said after the loss in Orlando
“What it takes every day. And if they think it is hard now, what do they think it will be like when we’re trying to get to The Finals?”
Celtics currently have a 25-18 record and sit in 5th place in the Eastern Conference.
“The things that you’ve done your entire career of being able to coast by in certain situations and you’ve gotten away with your youth and stuff like that, being on a championship ballclub, you can’t get away with that.” Irving explained
“You see the fans going crazy. You see it gets loud. I know from the majority of the fact that we’re better than most teams in this league. It’s just going out and proving it every single night and demanding it and actually showing it.” he added.
Now, post the outburst, speculation has been rife that Kyrie could now be seriously considering moving to the Knicks, especially after having made that ‘New York’ comment in October, before having made the verbal commitment to stay in Boston.
“Obviously New York held a special place for me, being from Jersey and obviously envisioning myself as a free agent and ultimately taking a meeting, playing for Fiz and the great young core they have, thinking about playing here.” Kyrie had said.
“Playing with KP [Kristaps Porzingis], that was a big thing before I made my decision to plan on re-signing back with Boston. But yeah, of course, New York was a strong consideration.” he added.
New York Post’s Marc Berman has reported that the Knicks now feel there is a realistic chance of signing Kyrie Irving, especially after how unattractive the Celtics look now, as opposed to how they were in October.
Kyrie has clarified his comments and confirmed that he won’t call out his teammates in the public ever again.
“Sometimes I may come off and say things — never to question my teammates in public like that ever again,” Irving told reporters.
“I just want to win so bad.” he added.
