Kyrie starts to think about stops
Kyrie Irving has said his role, at the age of 26 on a team of mostly younger players, is changing.
The Celtics guard spoke last night of his desire to improve in an area that has been considered maybe the only weakness in his game – defense.
“I just feel like I’m asking myself to do a lot more on the defensive end this year. I think the next eight to 10 years – God willing I’m able to play that long – I want to take that challenge on that end and in order to do that,” he said following the Celtics’ 93-90 loss to Orlando. “You have to be in phenomenal shape. I think that even for me, coming to the realization that I’ve coasted certain times on the defensive end throughout seasons and haven’t taken the challenge.
“This year, I want to take that challenge and stop my man and lead these guys on the defensive end first,” Irving said. “We all feel good when we get out in transition and get easy baskets and everyone’s playing hard. That for me is a challenge, just internally, that I’m taking on. But as far as figuring how I fit in with other guys, it’s going to take a little while. But I don’t want anybody else to stop being who they are. It’s going to [need] a lot of commitment and sacrifice and understanding of that for us to be great going forward. So like I said, it’s the fourth game, but obviously, I’ve been analyzing this for a little bit.”
Hayward eases back
Gordon Hayward missed Saturday’s win over New York because of soreness in his surgically repaired ankle – a sensation he admits probably will continue as he comes back from a year away from the game. But based on his 11-point, 4-for-8 performance last night, the Celtics forward appears to be regaining his rhythm at an early point in the season.
“I mean, there’s soreness in my ankle every time I play right now,” he said. “I think there will be soreness for a little while. I think it was something we planned on doing that. That’s why I’m on a minutes restriction as well. They don’t want any overloading issues, so there is some load management stuff basically.”
Hayward added that though he missed Saturday’s second night of the first back-to-back swing of the season, and though he’s on a minutes restriction, he doesn’t anticipate a future back-to-back restriction as well.
“That was just the plan for that game,” he said. “I want to play in every single game and every single minute but my game is not there yet. I trust out staff.”
Baynes better
Compared to the sense of alarm in Brad Stevens’ voice Saturday night, when Aron
Baynes pulled his right hamstring in the first half of the Celtics’ win over New York, the Celtics coach was calmer last night.
Though his backup center missed last night’s game, Baynes’ malady didn’t appear to be a long term issue.
“He’s feeling a little better today. He did a little bit of running at 70 percent of his body weight and felt pretty good,” Stevens said of Baynes’ work on the AlterG treadmill. “(That) was encouraging coming off of that. (Marcus) Morris had a little knee flare-up yesterday, but he’s feeling better today. He’s going to go through his warmups and let us know for sure. Nothing long-term with him. That’s how it stands.”
Morris scored seven points in 20 minutes.
Theis comes up big
Daniel Theis played a combined 18 minutes in appear- ances against Philadelphia and New York, with a 14minute stint against the Knicks his first serious run of the season. The big forward is recovering from knee surgery.
But Baynes absence will mean a larger role for Theis, at least in the short term at center. Theis had a productive 15 minutes with seven points and six rebounds last night.