Kyrie Irving shows off complete game, says he's adjusting for the greater good

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2017/10/kyrie_irving_boston_celtics_1.html




Boston Celtics analysis: Kyrie Irving shows off complete game, says he's adjusting for the greater good







Updated on October 31, 2017 at 6:02 AM
Posted on October 31, 2017 at 6:00 AM





Kyrie Irving wants to play for greater good with Boston Celtics










By Jay King



BOSTON -- In the victorious locker room, Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart took turns belting out lines from the [size=16]8 Mile rap freestyles. While rapping about Papa Doc, a crew called "The Free World" and an alleged gangster whose real name is Clarence, the two Boston Celtics guards looked comfortable enough with each other they could have been teammates their whole lives.[/size]


Really, Irving and Smart have only played together for a month, including all of training camp and seven regular-season games. The Celtics can recite all the Eminem lyrics from an old movie, but are just beginning to type their own script. 


Who will star in it? Irving, of course. While downing the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, 108-94, the point guard dazzled with 24 points and six assists despite sitting most of the fourth quarter. Those numbers look impressive, but fail to highlight just how great Irving was. After a first-half series of wizardly drives, finishes and dishes, he scored eight points over the first three minutes of the third quarter before ending the game with a well-deserved +25 over 30 minutes. The point guard was also wonderful down the stretch of Saturday's win in Miami, but reached a [size=16]divine playmaking level [/size]
(http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2017/10/boston_celtics_san_antonio_spu_10.html#incart_river_index) against the Spurs. 

That's what Irving does, right?


Well, yes. 


"No different than any other night I've seen him play," said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. "He's a heck of a player. You think that's going to change?"


And no.


In the early stages with his new team, Irving has looked hesitant or unsure at times. He has missed some shots he usually knocks down. Over his first six games with the Celtics, they actually scored more effectively with their All-Star point guard on the bench. Irving did reveal his brilliance in spurts, carrying his team for stretches against Milwaukee and dominating the final two minutes of a close win against the Heat. But the success came in bits and pieces.


And that was fine, even to be expected. Just two months ago, Irving was traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers, known for their isolation style, to the Celtics, one of the most ball-movement oriented teams around. Then Gordon Hayward went down with a bad injury on opening night and Irving was left to adjust to his new environment next to Al Horford, Aron Baynes and a bunch of kids. Most players on the roster were feeling their way around, but Irving, because of his status, stood out among the newbies.


"I feel like we all had to adapt to him," said Terry Rozier, one of four returning Celtics. 

"Terry's a funny guy, I'll tell you that," Irving smiled. "The flip side of that is I feel like I had to adjust to them. That was probably the biggest thing."


Irving said he could feel the change in culture even during pickup games this fall. If you try hard enough, it's easy to convince yourself sometimes he is lobbing passive-aggressive insults at his former team. Even if he doesn't actually mean to do it, every bit of praise for Boston seems like it could double as a dig at LeBron James and the Cavaliers.


There's some truth behind his comment about culture, though. The Cavaliers are known for franchise instability. The Celtics may not whistle with harmony at every turn, but share the same vision from the ownership group down to the coaches and beyond. Part of what made Irving's relocation from Cleveland so fascinating is that everyone understood he would need to change his playing style. He's proven himself as an isolation god, but that will not be enough without James next to him. It will not be enough for Brad Stevens. 


To Irving's credit, he understands that. Monday night he noted the Celtics have "a team-oriented-at-all-times vibe and culture here."


"And I had to be able to adjust my individual talent to the greater good of the group," Irving said. 

Can Irving make that change fully? It's one of the Celtics' most critical questions in the short and long term. They gambled a change in scenery, an upgrade in coaching and a shift in priorities would help pull out a more complete player. They bet big that Irving could morph from a brilliant 1-on-1 scorer into the type of superstar capable of carrying a team. He never needed to do that in Cleveland, but everything changes without James.  


Irving hasn't always looked comfortable in his new location yet, but everything flowed against the Spurs, offering a glimpse of what the Celtics hope to unlock: a fully-realized version of Irving complete with eye-opening assists, elite shot-making and a flair reserved only for the greatest talents. While helping Boston top San Antonio for the first time since 2011 ("I'm glad we got that out of the way," he said), Irving even racked up another three steals. He currently tops the NBA in that category, an unexpected development that has irked teammate Terry Rozier. 


"He's leading our team in steals right now. I'm kind of upset about that because he has bragging rights over us," Rozier said before adding, with a smile, "I'm happy for him."


"He didn't come here on no cockiness, none of that," added Rozier. "And we respect him for that. He's always talking to us and he's just being our leader. The way he goes about things is great. We adjust to him. We adapt to him and we're rolling right now so we just want to keep it going."

Yes, the Celtics are rolling. Despite losing Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and others this summer then Hayward in the opener, they have won five straight games thanks largely to a No. 1-ranked defense. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have shown all the ingredients of a dangerous wing duo, Al Horford has put together a killer all-around start and second-unit players like Rozier, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis have taken turns helping out. With Aron Baynes in the middle and plus length almost everywhere up and down the roster, the Celtics are even rebounding at an elite level. After years of getting shoved around by any big man capable of tying his shoes, that's a big deal. 


There's a lot to like about what's developing in Boston, but Irving's learning curve still matters as much as anything. 


"Just the adjustment to ultimately what I'm part of in this Celtic culture. There is no individual goals first, and I understand that, and that's something I couldn't wait to be part of," he said. "I feel like that has been going a lot better than even I expected because of the guys that we have in this locker room. They make it easier for me to just adjust myself."


For as much as Irving has accomplished in the NBA, the Celtics need him to be different now, more complete. They need him to be just what he was against San Antonio, a force in every way. 



bob



.

No doubt Celts won in the Kyrie trade.

Kyrie is a legit NBA superstar.

A former #1 pick that exceeded expectations.

The Celtics seem to have won the trade or at least it was a win-win. The Nets' pick doesn't look that valuable anymore. Even if Isaiah returns healthy, he is at the wrong age to get the big max contract. I'm not hearing much about Zizic. A lot of folks thought Crowder had hit a ceiling and became overrated.

I've been very supportive of Kyrie Irving so far in regards to his attitude and defense. I'm glad to see this article because it confirms my eye test.

Once Pierce, Ray and KG hit 33+ and we didn't keep Posey, Tony Allen or ever find the Perk replacement, that team was doomed. Danny could have gone all in keeping Bradley and Isaiah, but he was clever to not lock himself into that and instead kicked the can full of assets farther up the street.

Washington and Toronto have locked themselves into their current situations. They seem to be following the Bulls' model which has ended up with them in the tanking tier. I respect those teams, but long-term they seem doomed. It doesn't appear tough to get a few decent players and win 50 games a year. Yet, it looks impossible to make a leap from that sort of team to a true contender.

The new NBA and success is directly tied into money matters I try not to think about. Danny and Brad are working on all cylinders including those we can't possibly understand from simply watching games.

The Celtics may never win #18 in this new era, but at least Danny seems to have played the rebuild very smart and methodical.

The rebuild is over, but Stevens brings out the best in all players. We hope young guys can make their leaps. There's no reason to believe old dogs such as Horford and Irving can't do the same.

Brad Stevens can teach old dogs new tricks. Danny seems to have upped his game over the years and is trying to time all the various contracts to truly compete with Golden State or whomever replaces them as a superteam if and when their run ends or starts fading.

With all that we read and heard about Kyrie Irving before and right after he was traded to the Cs it would have been easy to conclude that we got stuck with a terrible person and very selfish player who basically was born at third base thinking that he had already hit the triple.

If anything that we heard turns out to be true about this guy he is certainly doing one heck of job hiding it from all of us and his teammates as well.

He has been nothing but a very, very good player, leader and professional guy since arriving. Can't really think that anyone can ask much more of him.