‘When we try, we’re in the game all the time. And then when we don’t, we’re clearly not.’
Kyrie Irving pulled no punches after the Celtics flopped in the final three quarters against West-worst Phoenix.
Without both Al Horford and Marcus Morris when Wednesday night’s game began, and without Aron Baynes after 90 seconds thanks to a broken hand, the Celtics were somewhat up against it to open a four-game homestand. The odds were still in their favor, but they’d needed serious heroics to win in Phoenix last month and — 7-24 record or not — the Suns came in winners of three straight.
To be beaten by 19 points in the final three quarters, though? To be outrebounded 56-37 overall and to give up 21 offensive boards, the most they’ve allowed in a game in more than two years? With towering Giannis Antetokounmpo leading rising power Milwaukee to TD Garden for a national TV game on Friday night?
Kyrie Irving wasn’t having that. So, asked to assess his Celtics during their brief two-game losing streak, he didn’t mince words.
“We just have to have consistency. Our units, whoever’s in, just the cohesion. Where the ball’s moving and guys actually want to see other players be in a position to score the basketball,” Irving told reporters after the 111-103 loss. “So that means delivering on time. Actually caring about … actually trying, in certain possessions. Where actually down the stretch, it’s like for some games that we’ve played, we’ve tried. When we try, we’re in the game all the time. And then when we don’t, we’re clearly not.”
The Celtics lost to a desperate Detroit team on Saturday night, snapping their eight-game winning streak (and the Pistons’ six-game skid). Afterward, Marcus Smart remarked that “they hit us in the face and we wasn’t ready.” Brad Stevens dismissed it, declaring “it’s not our best game. That’s it.”
As for Wednesday night, after his team attempted just 14 foul shots and gave up 22 second-chance attempts?
“The better team won,” the coach said.
“They just picked up their aggressiveness,” Irving said of the Suns after Boston led by 11 after one quarter. “They were pretty much in a rhythm for the rest of the game.”
Losing Baynes, reportedly for a month, will require Stevens to lean more on rookie Robert Williams. That was certainly the case on Wednesday, when the “Time Lord” played 24 minutes, more than three times his season average. With eight points on 4-for-4 shooting, eight rebounds and five blocks, Irving had plenty of praise for the 21-year-old.
He also made clear Williams can’t do it alone.
“The sky’s the limit for his potential and what he brings to our team,” Irving said. “Obviously, getting more repetitions at this point. Creating opportunities for us, for lob opportunities at the rim as well as getting blocks and protecting the paint, but, us as guards, when we’re missing guys we have to help Rob rebound as well. He’s contesting and trying to go for every block and, you know, our weak side and crashing in, helping him out, is just as important as him going for the rebounds. That’s part of being on a team. We all have to cover each other.”
Given his pedigree, and the youth around him, Irving’s comments are constructive and needed. And he knows the road is about to get tougher, with the depleted Celtics only getting back-to-back days off once between now and Jan. 23.
“For us, as a growing team and learning from one another, we just have to continue to build that cohesion,” he said. “You just want to have great pockets of games. You have a good consistent run, and then now you have a lapse. And now it’s build it back up and continue to work every single day. To be a very great team, like I said, it’s a work in progress every day.”
