Kyrie Irving on Celtics tenure: “That wasn’t a great reflection of who I am” | NBA | UNDISPUTED

Kyrie Irving on Celtics tenure: “That wasn’t a great reflection of who I am” | NBA | UNDISPUTED

so Rachel your response to what Kyrie said about a situation you followed very closely yes I mean look I’ve been talking to you guys all year about the maturity and the leadership that Kyrie has developed and all the behind the scenes factors that have led to that and this is another example of it a younger Kyrie would not have publicly taken responsibility the way we saw here a younger Kyrie would not have explained some of what was going on in his head because a younger Kyrie like a lot of young players in the league I don’t have to explain myself to you why should I have to do that and he realizes now that by opening himself up by taking some of that responsibility by explaining a little bit of what was going on with him at the time talking about what he did wrong but also pointing out what he did right because he did do some things right in that era that he is going to have the fans be more on his side that he is going to have a healthier relationship with just the truth and how he can move forward and think about other things and I think that’s super impressive and that is setting an example for young players not just in the court not just in the locker room but when he stands up there and does something like that that message is his whole team it’s not weak to explain yourself it’s not weak to talk about what’s really going on it actually engenders you to not just the fans but the basketball Community this this for me is not about the Boston Celtics players because really was Tatum and brown really the only two maybe Al Harford might have been in that mix I’m not 100% sure but those are really the only two and they have a great relationship ship with Kyrie steel to this day it’s about the boss he or they say they I thought this was actually one of the most important things to come out of yesterday’s press conferences on both sides both Kyrie and Jason and Jaylen said separately across the country from each other oh yeah we talk and text all the time you typically do with your teammates that you had before idea that they have this heated rivalry now and that the hate that’s between the Boston fans and Kyrie is now hate between the players no the players ain’t pay attention to that it may be some dislike of course with the fans of course it is I mean that’s just the fans feel like you left him at the altar that’s fine yeah that that that’s the way it is for him to be able to understand though your first time going back in that to that environment after you left them standing at the altar there’s going to be some words exchanged from the fan base and you’re going to react a certain way as a player but once you take a step back and you’re now removed so far from the situation and you can look at some of the turbulence that you had along the way whether it was in Brooklyn or or not having 40 teams after you so to speak and only a handful you take a step back it becomes a surreal moment and you say to yourself okay I’m 32 years old now I’m not 25 years old I got kids now that are older I got to I got to do things differently now doesn’t mean that he’s not going to roll up into the par of Boston or whatever it’s called and go nuts on them doesn’t mean that he’s going to take them lightly he’s still going to go nuts on them only this time he going to knock down the three and look at them and laugh and walk back on the defensive end opposed to giving them the birds and all he ain’t going to get caught up in that because he knows what to expect from him now you know as he said I I was losing my you know what yeah because skip man when you have somebody talking to you Reckless and crazy when you especially like Rachel said when you young you what what I don’t need to explain nothing to you you talking to me like I’m a kid even though I am young but I’m not your children I’m not your you’re not going to treat me that way but when you 32 years old you 40 years old 50 years old you know how to just kind of let that just go right over your head and keep it moving because I’mma hurt you a different way so that Kyrie we just saw the one I watched last night several times has turned into to me to the best interview in all sports because he’s got some new found peace so he he used to have that sort of defensive Edge against the media where it’s always like suspicious like why why you ask me that or why why should I have to explain myself as you said about about that I let me cut you off but the one of the reasons that you get like that though skip is you got to think about the cities that he played in where that became an issue Boston and New York it did he in Dallas not a small Market but he ain’t got all everybody trying to beat the next person for a story and try to get you to say something that’s that New York Boston stuff the Dallas media is not competitive because it is I’m not saying they’re not I’m I’m not saying that the the the CL Hills of the world are not there’s no tabloid with a back yeah so you as a player you walking in and you already know Skip balis is up to something he’s in New York he’s up to something I gotta you know it’s just true I see Rachel Nichols walking up to me in New York I’m like okay here we go no I was good news I only came when it was a big game and a player was doing well so guys used to say oh you’re here that me but like you said though skip it it’s one of them sitation was a different guy now yeah he’s a different guy so you have bed occasionally when it’s come up on the show this whole concept of he’s grown up well it’s not like he was a a child before but but he has grown let’s take the up off the end of it I think he has grown because he said a couple times yesterday I have grown since then is that fair that’s very it’s very fair but all of using Rachel covered me Rachel covered me when I was young and she works with me now ask her how I was when I was young and then over the years you know you just it’s natural for any of us man we get like you lost your fire because you haven’t lost your fire or your but I know how to approach things differently you know which battles to pick which absolutely right yeah some things is like Kyrie said there’s a lot of things other than sports that’s going on in the world that we need to pay attention to you pick your battles you just do you just do what I love the most about Kyrie is he is deep smart as you know you want to talk about IQ and and wealth of knowledge and width and breadth of knowledge this is there there are lots of thoughts deep down in that psyche and he’s starting to share a lot of them in a good way because they kept spilling out the wrong way and get they’d be taken the wrong way and we know what the wrong way that correct he’s not careful not to do that as much anymore he is and so I just appreciate listening to him because he is the biggest reason they are there he just is because he had to go way out of his way to figure out how to find his place with Luca because it was not easy and and you have to humble yourself a little bit in Luca’s eyes and presence to try to make him feel like you’re still you’re the man I’m I’m I’m I’m 1A or whatever Jason kid said it a couple of games back about oh Kyrie’s very content being number two or 1A well deep down he probably isn’t but but he realized that’s the only way to make this work because he is the leader of this team and he showed you he demonstrated that with everything he said yesterday because he didn’t drop any Fireballs on Boston yesterday he there there’s no bulletin board material out of this he was actually draining some of the potential poison out of this see I would go back to his time his brief time in Brooklyn right it didn’t work out but I would say he didn’t mind deferring to harden or KD for that matter he just had a lot of other stuff that was going on and then you had josi say well we don’t want to pay you he was like well you ain’t gonna pay me my Max money I don’t want to be here and so you you see what I’m saying he he didn’t have a problem deferring to Luca they he had just got there so when you get somewhere and you knew you try to figure out you stick your to what what’s going on all of those things and like you said skip the reason that they’re now in the finals Luca is a part of it but the reason is Kyrie it is it’s just KY it’s Kyrie that’s age of maturity too though and and not even maturity but just actual age and we talked about this a little bit last week that when Kyrie came to Dallas there was no confusion over who the best player was and yet there was also no confusion over who the locker room leader would be they dovetail so nicely in their skill sets because Luca is 25 years old and does not want to have heart the hearts with guys who are only what three four years younger than him about how to be strong rookies or what we really mean to each other Kyrie can do all of that and Luca is going to be the heliocentric force on the court and Kyrie is okay with that that’s is all so different from when he left Cleveland and there was so much sort of back and forth about also his position and relationship to LeBron and was LeBron sunning him and all 23 years old that’s said it’s actual age it’s not even maturity it’s juste age that he knows where he is in the league I do want to say something about the Boston fans though I love being in Boston Garden that environment is so great it’s the same reason I love being in MSG I mean you know when the fans care that much it is so fun and that rockus almost College environment that they have in terms of the ferocity of the fans but I do think you got to know your facts here and one of the things I keep hearing from Boston fans is oh krie is 0 and 10 since the you know 0 and 10 the last 10 times he’s played us the quality of Kyrie’s teams for those 10 games compared to Boston’s teams are significantly different if you go back to the first meeting Boston was in fifth at that point and Brooklyn was in eighth if you go back which which year are we in now which uh where it’s been five years five since he was there if you go back to Boston when they met in the playoffs for the first time Boston was a number two seed Brooklyn was a number seven seed Boston was a number one seed the next time Brooklyn was an eight seed so you you can’t blame Kyrie and it goes the list goes on and on and on even in Dallas this year those two wins it was pre before they had this new lineup and at the time Dallas was an eight seed and Boston was of course record setting number one seed so I just don’t think you can blame him entirely for being 0 and 10 and that’s a stat that I’d like to kind of see go away I I thought he has been back you know he went back with the nets for the playoffs in 2021 and they did win one of those games and then then they won twice in 2022 there in a playoff game so he’s played Four playoff games since he left Boston and in the second playoff game at Boston this is in 2021 he went for 39 and 11 rebounds so so it’s not like he hasn’t already had a big game in a playoff game back in the confin yeah but he hadn’t had a big playoff game since the the whole fingers and the whole thing I don’t think you know the whole it wasn’t multiple fingers Kean you know I explain to you how this works trying to you know figure out how to say it the right way you think about the beginning of the Season or even at the end of the season there’s no way that you thought that the Dallas Mavericks would be in the final they tanked got in trouble by they tanked got in trouble a little bit by the NBA a little slap on the wrist here and there don’t do that again you’re embarrassing us talk don’t talk about it again don’t say the quiet part out loud because Portland tank no one find I know but there yeah but it’s Portland’s different than Dallas because Dallas has a superstar in Luca and then in part of that they Lively and even this year you didn’t think that they would do what they’ve done and then they take out the number one seat in OKC then they take out Minnesota in the team that took out the champions in Denver and you sit there and you say to yourself if they were to take out Boston this is probably as as far as my memory serves probably the biggest I I would call would it be an upset the biggest upset that I’ve seen in my young young age of the NBA Finals other than Detroit against the Lakers in sha and when we had car Malone and CP and and Gary pton and them and then the Toronto Golden State but that was more injuries than it was anything so so you’ve identified the exact right Series so they do numbers on all of this it’s not just your feeling but your feeling is completely right when you look at the differential between teams the biggest upset was of course Detroit against the Lakers and that super team the second biggest as you say in terms of what where teams went into those finals matchups was Toronto and Golden State now why that happened had to do a lot with in the Lakers sense that team wasn’t playing together as a unit and came unraveled and with some other factors and then and then with with golden state it was obviously huge injuries gutting injuries Kevin Durant Klay Thompson that sort of thing this would be the third biggest sort of upset accomplishment if it happens based on the start of the Year based on based on how they’re even going into the finals W so you know when when you look at those things but by the way it’s going to happen it’s happened twice already with teams that were further apart it’s going to happen again some point hopefully it doesn’t happen again because of injuries because that always just stinks but there’s no question that at some point it will happen more and and it could be Dallas’s year I I don’t know but if porzingis comes back and knock on wood for the Celtics nobody gets hurt then if Dallas somehow prevails then then it would be the greatest achievement in finals history right probably not I mean I I would look at I would look at the Lakers Detroit Detroit because of because of because of the the the Lakers the Hall of Famers just the whole on the other side other side and who was on the Detroit side by the way Detroit didn’t have a Luca donic right Detroit was a team win chy was the finals in really good and CH is going into the Hall of Fame this year took longer than should if you ask I’m saying CHS is the only Hall of Famer on that team from right only one 100% look at the Lakers whether it was gp3 with a hole in the glove whether it was uh uh call Shaq Kobe I mean it just yeah we shouldn’t have lost but oh well I thought one thing that Kyrie said that was interesting on a totally different topic and I know you were talking about this yesterday afternoon as well is what he said about Kobe someone asked him about his relationship with Kobe and I thought when him he was talking about the specific things that Kobe said to him the way they had a relationship off the court you know how they worked out together some Summers one of the quotes that he brought up about Kobe was Kobe telling him there are billions of people out there who will love you and billions of people will hate you so just stop thinking about it and move on with Kobe it’s in the billions I don’t know if with Kyrie it’s in the billions but it’s no knock on him um but that concept I think and him having that top of mind yesterday was interesting to me because it is what he will need to get through these finals absolutely so how bad how harsh do you think whatever animosity or hate directed at Kyrie will be on Thursday night oh I think they’re going to not only boo him every time he touches the ball but I think it will be a lot of words many words not appropriate not just for TV but frankly not appropriate for the arena um I’m interested I think Kyrie is going to be very Zen about all of it because I think that is the place he has put himself I’m interested how much Luca gets fired up by how people are toward Kyrie because we saw in game five Luca getting fired up and using the crowd as motivation Michael Jordan style and you know talking the whole game and pointing and the you know the whole thing I I am very curious whether the Boston fans in advertently rile Luca up through their treatment of Kyrie I don’t know best thing to do though skip to silence them is that first quarter you need to hit 20 you need just do what you did in Minnesota shut them up yeah you got to turn cuz if you cooking them ain’t got nothing to say they just got you want to see them I want to see them start heading for the exercise with about nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter yeah that’s when you yeah you know they leaving you can start say bye see y’all later that’s how you quiet them down but you don’t want to see that because you got Boston look I’m just talking about from Kyrie standpoint I understand you know I I you you mentioned this right that I got Boston yeah I got Boston I got Boston players cuz I want to see Tatum get the negative off his back but here’s what I would also be satisfied and be like whatever if Kyrie was to win it okay because if Kyrie was to win it I’m going to clean up it’s going to clean up all that mess that he’s been dealing with over the last several years it’s going to clean up a lot so I was talking to Jamal Crawford about this yesterday and he thinks that if Kyrie wins this title it will be his most important title more than the 3-1 comeback yeah absolutely State and and I totally agree because of where he came from um and his arrival in Dallas and all that mess that went on in Brooklyn and all the stuff and and and the unrest and then leaving the team and then telling Boston yay no blah blah blah I want out of Cleveland just all of the last what it’s been 10 years the last 10 years he wiped the Slate clean he would and I don’t need LeBron to win a championship he could pound his chest if he choose to do so I do have a question for both of you guys because as Cowboy fan as cow former Cowboy are the a little bit like the Cowboys in that America is rooting against them or America is rooting for them I mean the Cowboys were America’s team I don’t feel like the Celtics are America’s team I don’t think anybody is rooting against the Cowboys I think the Cowboys fan base at times are delusional that’s what I think I I can’t even begin to go there like like it just doesn’t fit at all for me and plus I keep telling you this Boston team is extremely likable across the board all of them seriously yeah because I’m rooting against them because I got Dallas but I I’m find it hard I can’t root against any single Boston player and say he’s just a bad guy I’m rooting for the players yeah the Cowboys they make you mad because of people like skip bis rooting for the Cowboys and they just you know but they’re also America’s team I don’t I didn’t know where the Celtics fell on no no no I wouldn’t say I I wouldn’t even know who America’s team would be in basketball well right now I think it’s Dallas don’t you think I don’t know do you think there I mean I still think the Lakers are it man I just I agree yeah yeah I would probably say the Lakers and by the way just a quick point of order about the Pistons doing in shocking your Lakers back in what was it 2004 the Pistons had one other Hall of Famer on their bench and that was Larry Brown he he was a big deal 100 he was a big yeah we we we come on man call call hers hamstring okay thanks for watching Undisputed fans do you want more highlights from the show make sure to click that subscribe button for all the exclusive content from Undisputed

Skip Bayless, Rachel Nichols and Keyshawn Johnson react to Kyrie Irving reflecting on his Boston Celtics tenure, saying, “That wasn’t a great reflection of who I am.” The Dallas Mavericks will take on the Celtics in the NBA Finals.

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Kyrie Irving on Celtics tenure: “That wasn’t a great reflection of who I am” | NBA | UNDISPUTED

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