Suddenly, sadly, it wasn’t about Kyrie
CLEVELAND — Tuesday began with all of the focus here, as expected, on Kyrie Irving. The star point guard was making his first trip back to the city where he spent the first six years of his National Basketball Association career before requesting a trade this summer, and the reception was everything it was supposed to be.
At the Boston Celtics’ morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena, Irving was met by a throng of reporters so large that even he seemed surprised.
He was booed mercilessly when he was introduced to what used to be his hometown crowd, and then every time he touched the ball.
But that was all before Gordon Hayward suffered a dislocated left ankle and fractured tibia less than six minutes into the first quarter of Tuesday’s game.
For the rest of the night — despite 22 points and 10 assists and missing a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer in Cleveland’s 102-99 victory — Irving went from the centre of attention to an afterthought.
It was a surreal sequence of events, made all the more irrelevant by the pall cast by Hayward’s injury.
“We have to pick ourselves up and continue as best we can this season until he’s back with us,” Irving said. “His spirit is still here with us, and you know (Gordon’s) going to be fighting to be back on the court.”
In some ways, Hayward’s injury — as terrible as it was — reinforces why Irving wanted to leave Cleveland and set out on his own in the first place. Irving wanted to be the face of his own franchise, to whom people would turn in the wake of a moment such as this to get his thoughts on the subject.
Taking on that responsibility, though, has led to some interesting moments, beginning with a bizarre appearance on ESPN’s “First Take.” But Irving did have a rather epic takedown of LeBron James during his media session Tuesday morning, referencing a recent interview in which James repeatedly referred to Irving as “kid.”
“Well guys, going forward, I kind of wanted to put that to rest, in terms of everyone figuring out or trying to figure out, or dive in and continue to dive into a narrative that they have no idea about,” Irving said. “That probably will never ever be divulged because it’s not important.
“This was literally just a decision that I wanted to make solely based on my happiness and pushing my career forward. I don’t want to pinpoint anything, I will never pinpoint anything because that’s not what real grown-ups do. They continue to move on with their lives and continues to progress and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
Still, Boston didn’t acquire Irving because of his media game — the Celtics wanted him because he’s one of the league’s dynamic scorers. And the Celtics are going to need that scoring with Hayward out for months, or possibly even the entire season.
Youngsters Jaylen Brown (25 points and six rebounds) and Jayson Tatum (14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists) both impressed, but it’s unreasonable to expect that kind of production on a nightly basis.
So it will be up to Irving to lead these Celtics in Hayward’s absence. Throughout his time in Cleveland, the Cavs struggled whenever James sat, and Irving was judged as being unable to carry the load in his absence.
Now, Irving can close the book on that narrative forever. He will be front and centre for Boston the rest of the season. If he can keep the Celtics in contention without Hayward, people will have to look at him differently.