Kyrie Irving struggled yet again on Monday night, completing with 23 points on 7-of-22 shooting from the field in the Celtics’ Game 4 misfortune to the Bucks. Regardless of taking Game 1 in Milwaukee, the Celtics are currently down 3-1 in the series and keeping in mind that there are various issues you can point to, the most glaring one has been Irving’s poor play.
After the loss, he tended to his poor performance, noticing the pressure he’s looking from the Bucks’ barrier and his endeavors to in any case put his teammates in great positions to score. In any case, despite the fact that he’s been missing a lot of shots this series, he’s not giving that destroy his confidence, adding that he should have taken 30 shots on Monday night.
Irving’s full comments:
On his poor shooting stretch: “Who cares?”
On the Bucks’ defense: “I’m a basketball player, prepare the right way. Like I said, it’s a little different when your rhythm is challenged every play down,” Irving said. “You’re being picked up full court, they are doing things to test you. The expectations on me are going to be sky-high. I try to utilize their aggression against them and still put my teammates in great position while still being aggressive. I am trying to do it all.”
On staying aggressive: “For me, I had 22 shots, I should’ve shot 30 … just the consistency of going at it, staying aggressive is always going to put us in a great position. Obviously Being more cautious on turnovers getting down the stretch when they are going on runs or managing the game better that way, I feel I can do better that way. But in terms of shooting, it’s a series. They are doing a great job of loading and putting a high emphasis on anywhere I go on the court.”
In Games 2-4, all losses for the Celtics, Irving is averaging 20.3 points however has made just 19 of his last 62 shot endeavors. It doesn’t take a specialist to understand that these weren’t the sort of performances the Celtics were anticipating from Irving in the postseason when they traded for him.
There are a wide range of things you can discuss with this Celtics team and this series specifically, yet in truth, none of them matter with Irving playing thusly. And after spending all regular season telling everyone who would listen to just wait for the playoffs, these games sting even more.
It’s anything but difficult to perceive any reason why comments like “Who cares?” or “I should’ve shot 30 (shots)” may appear somewhat distant after these last three performances, yet not satisfying desires is baffling, what’s more, Irving has never truly been one to think about that part of addressing media questions. In addition, in fairness to him, they make much more sense in context.
Is proposing he ought to firearm for 30 shots when he’s struggling like this excessive? Maybe, however the Celtics do require him to keep on being forceful. At this point, it may be too late for a comeback, but if the Celtics have any hope of beating the odds, a bounce-back performance from Irving in Game 5 would be a good place to start. Wallowing in his poor performances might make fans feel better in the aftermath of the loss, but it wouldn’t help Irving play any better moving forward.