In case you missed the latest podcast, Jacob McCormick and I talked about players we can’t defend anymore. I had my wits end with Kyrie and was at the point where I didn’t hate him, but also couldn’t defend him. It had nothing to do with the on-court performance, just the off-court nonsense. All of a sudden, a west coast plane trip changed the entire season. I have no idea how but it’s the reality. The Celtics have won 3 straight and Kyrie Irving is sounding like a normal human.
Irving gave a statement to Chris Haynes in a well-written piece for Yahoo Sports:
“The way I’ve handled things, it hasn’t been perfect,” Irving told Yahoo Sports as he rested his feet in a bucket of ice at his locker stall. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes that I take full responsibility for. I apologize. I haven’t done it perfectly. I haven’t said the right things all the time. I don’t want to sit
on a place like I’m on a pedestal from anybody. I’m a normal human being that makes mistakes. For me, I think because of how fixated I was on trying to prove other people wrong, I got into a lot of habits that were bad, like reading stuff and reacting emotionally. That’s just not who I am.”
I don’t know what Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge said to Kyrie on that plane trip but I thank them for their services. I think this is the difference between Boston and other poorly run franchises. Other teams that had to face the Celtics struggles would have bombed the rest of the season. Instead, the Celtics have turned things around and all of a sudden, the Celtics seemed engaged and cheering for their teammates. Since we are in the apology stage, I want to apologize to Kyrie too. I was too hard on. The regular season means nothing. He acknowledged that it’s take him time to learn how to lead the young Celtics.
“I’m still learning, bro. I come from a suburb of New Jersey. I’m not used to all this [attention].”
I think we forget that Kyrie is just 26 years of age. That’s young for any human to lead a billion dollar organization. Kyrie is a smart guy. I think he was just frustrated with certain things and whatever they were got addressed internally. Irving has been on fire in the month of March. He’s shooting .542 percent from the field and .524 from 3-point range. The Celtics are gaining momentum as the playoffs inch closer and I’m feeling optimistic about a Finals appearance. Golden State wants no part of this!
