Irving, Celtics work OT
Guard’s 43 points fuel thrilling comeback victory
By MARK MURPHY
The Celtics see these shots every day from Kyrie Irving — sometimes more logic-defying than the stuff behind his 43-point performance last night.
And yet each night Irving puts something on the board — on the backboard — that no one has seen before.
“I told him he had to have an ‘A’ in English class because his English with that ball is slim-to-none,” said teammate Marcus Morris. “I’ve never seen nobody put the ball at the top of the backboard like that and get the roll.” Over, and over and over. “Ah man, he made some shots tonight where you’re just like, wow. You catch yourself being a fan,” said Gordon Hayward. “When he got into that mode the whole arena knew where he was going, and so did the Raptors. They just couldn’t stop him.”
Somehow these teams have avoided each other in the playoffs the last three seasons. Games like last night beg for a change.
And in a nationally televised setting, Irving took off with one of his finest nights as a Celtic, shooting 18-for26 with three 3-pointers, and still finding the time for 11 assists in the Celtics’ 123-116 overtime win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Celtics withstood a 31-point performance by Irving’s new conference foil — Raptors star Kawhi Leonard — and evened their season series at 1-1.
The experience was clearly a new one for Leonard, who had been 9-0 in his career against the Celtics, according to stat guru Dick Lipe. But he’s never faced the C’s with Irving in the lineup before, either.
“You’ve got to give them credit. Kyrie did a great job in the fourth quarter knocking down shots,” said Leonard. “We’ve got some things to do on the defensive end to try to stop those type of players and execution in the fourth quarter. We fought hard tonight. They played a better game. We’ve just got to keep getting better.”
Stevens dropped the minutes restriction on Hayward and allowed the Celtics forward to play 39 minutes, with the result a 15-point, five-assist, five-rebound performance that was packed with hustle plays and crunch time shots.
Opting for size against Leonard down the stretch, he replaced Jaylen Brown with Marcus Morris on the Raptors forward. And once it became obvious that Irving could get into the paint at will, the Celtics coach made an easy decision.
“I get out of the way,” said Stevens.
To hear Irving describe it, he entered a zen state.
“It’s pretty peaceful. But you’re just trying to make the right reads, that’s all, and take what the defense is giving you,” he said. “I knew coming off the screen and roll tonight was going to be very aggressive. So the game plan already in the back of my mind, and I noticed that a few times they were just indecisive in terms of what they were going to do in the pick-and-roll.”
Hayward opened overtime with two free throws, and then answered an Ibaka score with a turnaround from the baseline. Pascal Siakam missed, and when Tatum lost the ball, Irving scooped it up and drove for a 113-109 lead with 3:43 left.
“It’s just not too often during the regular season you get to have games like this. So you want to take full advantage of them,” said Irving. “They’re a great test for your team on both ends of the basketball floor. A great player in the other locker room. So you’ve just got to be on your P’s and Q’s for the unknown, and that’s the competition. The level of play rises and you’ve just got to appreciate that.”