Kyrie on finals struggles: “It wasn’t like I could get isos every time against everybody. We [were] going against one of the best defensive teams of all time, not one of the best defensive teams of just the past few seasons. That was a special group… I give credit to the Boston Celtics”
by Far-Asparagus6416
20 Comments
Quote at 1:26
How many teams in the NBA now have 5 starters who are all above average defenders? Gotta be pretty rare I’m guessing?
Not sure about all time without looking at it more but the first thing that stands out is the Celtics have incredible balance in their defense in the sense they don’t really have a weak spot to always pick on.
Boston was gonna win no matter what , I don’t know why anybody chose the mavs , Boston legit might win back to back next season & i hate to say that as a lakers fan that team is fucking deadly & all of them can get hot from 3
Iso vs [Horford](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/159/93c5bf60-e28b-403f-9b2f-105e6ba9a99d_1280x720.mp4)
Iso vs [Pritchard](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/180/fce34797-e0d9-5ce0-20c0-73d7cc431bcb_1280x720.mp4)
Iso vs [Pritchard](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/176/3cb1615f-fee4-6032-1a65-f52ea9bc8e89_1280x720.mp4)
Iso vs [Jrue](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/305/813df508-3be7-f6b4-fc44-bdb1cfd1efce_1280x720.mp4)
Porzingis in a [drop](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/405/f5641456-8ed9-9c5b-6d37-dc36990582bf_1280x720.mp4)
[Wide open](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/317/d6fcf857-b76d-af4f-8359-dac90c86b12a_1280x720.mp4)
[Wide open again](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/375/e592364f-c0f1-9169-08a1-6f9ce4a24d41_1280x720.mp4)
Iso vs [Hauser](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/06/06/0042300401/127/65c71ba3-078f-af77-4476-9637f3bfa88d_1280x720.mp4)
They’re all time in terms of the balance in their rotation. A lot of switchability (without a tradeoff for worse offense). Even Hauser was making impressive defensive stops. No one easy for Kyrie to try to attack.
But.. that’s about as far as I’d go. I’d point out first that the Timberwolves led the league in DRTG by a wide margin. Tough to call a defense all-time when they weren’t particularly close to being the statistical best in their season. I know the counterargument will be “but playoffs”. The obvious response to that is that the Celtics really didn’t get tested enough in the postseason to say that their body of work there solidified them as an all-time defense.
And the fact that the whole switchability/balance thing didn’t really matter for much of NBA history.
Anyway, doesn’t really change Kyrie’s point, just wanted to add that.
2022 Celtics were better defensively than 2024. Especially since Porzingis was basically out after the 1st series.
ESPN talking heads in shambles
Celtics fans need to start some Jrue/Derrick “best defensive backcourt ever” propaganda because as someone who watched a lot of them last season, they really might be the best defensive backcourt I’ve ever seen.
I always find it so silly when people blame players for “choking” in the playoffs or something, like they aren’t literally playing against the best defensive players in the world, as well as the best minds in basketball drawing schemes for an entire team to stop them from scoring
To his credit, he did a decent job on iso vs their wings and guards. He mostly had no trouble creating a separation against basically everyone on Celtics although he missed many easy layups as well. What stopped him was their help defense that gave Kyrie little space to operate and Kyrie forcing himself a lot of tough shot didn’t help. Hats off to Horford who really held his own on Kyrie despite Kyrie tried numerous times to hunt him.
Lucky starts to show a small forgiving smile when suddenly a searing pain appears in the left side of his cranium where Kyrie assaulted him *fook* it’s gonna take a bit more than that to earn his trust back Kai
it’s so weird. He doesn’t sound like a flat earther. O well.
Perfect answer really. Giving credit to the Celtics while taking full responsibility.
For all the naysayers about his trade to the Mavs he’s been great in everyway since he got there, and clearly a veteran leader the other players follow and respect. I don’t think he’s said as much offcourt nonsense either.
He probably burnt some sage and did some kind of rituals with his minerals collection, he’s now at peace with the evil spirit that Lucky the Leprechaun is
Every single person on the C’s roster stepped up in a meaningful way, that’s fundamental championship basketball.
Who is this guy? Bring the real kyrie back
Celtics are a super team
As much as I hate Kyrie still, him leaving, and then Kemba not really working is what inspired Brad’s team building philosophy. You could tell with Kemba that he was sick of having one of his guys he’s relying on as a starter being a defensive liability, and since then, we haven’t had a single starter that I wouldn’t call a + defender
Bostons a great team but Kyrie been doing the disappearing act his whole career. Not necessarily about effort his shot just stops falling for 5-10 games at a time at the wrong time.
Fair play from Irving. He has grown since being this sulky depressed negative player he was in Boston.