Jaylen Brown is not happy with Kyrie Irving over the point guard’s comments on Saturday.
Irving was frustrated with how the Celtics’ final play went in a 2-point loss to the Orlando Magic on Saturday night. He was seen telling Gordon Hayward that Hayward made the wrong play. Then after the game, Irving was critical of the team’s young players, saying they don’t know what it takes to win a championship.
“The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team. 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?” Irving said. “There were no expectations last year. Everyone played free and easy. Everyone surpassed whatever they expected for themselves. This year? We all have high expectations. The players, the coaches, everyone. And that’s good, but we aren’t doing it yet. We can get there. We’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better. We need to win these games on the road. That’s on me as a leader. I need to be a better leader and to help get us there.”
Irving tried to address things on Monday, saying he doesn’t want to call out his teammates in public. The damage was already done though. Jaylen Brown said after Boston’s loss to the Nets on Monday that the team can’t point fingers.
Jaylen Brown to reporters in New York: “It’s not the young guys’ or old guys’ fault — it’s everybody.”
More: “We just have to have each other’s back at the end of the day. We can’t make comments, we can’t point fingers.”
Kyrie Irving has pointed at the young guys all season.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) January 15, 2019
On the other hand, Jayson Tatum did not seem too bothered, saying Irving was being “brutally honest” and wasn’t picking on anyone specifically.
Tatum on Kyrie’s criticism: pic.twitter.com/jOFn1SZHv7
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 15, 2019
Here’s the thing: If Irving is going to say something like that, then he better back things up with MVP-level play. And rather than cower in response, the young players need to step up and prove Irving wrong.
