BOSTON — Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens believes Kyrie Irving had “good intentions” when he made public his phone call to LeBron James after Wednesday’s win.
Irving’s comments, which included admitting he was wrong to publicly criticize Boston’s younger players, have been widely scrutinized since his surprising revelation about calling James. Stevens believes Irving’s only desire is to help the Celtics win.
"I thought that, the way I read his comments the other night, was that there was a lot of reflection back on what he said and a lot of accountability and a lot of talk about how hard it is to be a leader,” Stevens said before Friday’s game against the Grizzlies. "The best part about it is, if you have good intentions, which without question he does, and like he said, he wants to win, he’s dying to win, he wants to be as good as he can be and do that for a long time, then those are things that are great challenges.”
Stevens noted how leadership often starts on the court and, before his comments, Irving put up 27 points and a career-high 18 assists as the Celtics rallied to beat the East-leading Toronto Raptors. Irving either scored or assisted on all of Boston’s final 25 points.
“Leadership starts with what you do on the court -- he was pretty damn good on Wednesday night -- and then it’s how you serve your teammates and then everything else is what it is,” said Stevens. "Everything else follows suits from those two things.”
Irving’s comments left some national pundits wondering if it was another veiled shot at Boston’s younger players. A closer examination seems to suggest that Irving was pinning blame on himself, both for the way he reacted as a younger player while sharing the spotlight with James in Cleveland, and also how he’s levied public criticism of Boston’s younger players this season.
Irving has suggested that he never meant for his comments to come off as hurtful to his younger teammates and simply yearns to win so badly that he’s eager to get everyone on the same page. Irving admitted that he needs to avoid pointing fingers and keep those sort of talks behind closed doors.
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