Celtics
“I think just how he’s carried himself, how he’s played this postseason, has been one of the fun things to watch as one of the themes in the NBA”
Joe Mazzulla didn’t hesitate to respond to a question about how Kyrie Irving is perceived in Boston.
Fair or unfair, the reporter asking began, some still view Irving as a villain because of how his two seasons with the Celtics went. Mazzulla did not deny the sentiment. Instead, he jumped in with a question of his own.
“Aren’t we all in someone’s eyes? We’re all villains in someone’s eyes,” Mazzulla said.
It’s been five years since Irving last suited up for the Celtics during the 2019 playoffs. He told the TD Garden crowd before that season he would re-sign in Boston, only to back out of his commitment and sign with Brooklyn instead.
He also stomped on Boston’s midcourt logo during Brooklyn’s series win over the Celtics in the 2021 playoffs, putting his shoe directly on Lucky the Leprechaun’s face during his time with the Nets.
Since then, Irving was shipped to Dallas and helped guide the Mavericks to the NBA Finals, a feat he never pulled off in Boston or Brooklyn. His performance has become one of the more entertaining subplots of this postseason, Mazzulla said.
“He’s a great player. He’s done a lot of good things,” Mazzulla said. “I think just how he’s carried himself, how he’s played this postseason, has been one of the fun things to watch as one of the themes in the NBA, so he’s a great player.”
“He’s done a lot of great things over the course of his career and he’s playing really well, so you’ve got to respect that. You can’t take that for granted and you have to be ready to guard him at a high, high level. That’s the most important thing.”
The Celtics, featuring one of the NBA’s best defensive backcourts in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, have the versatility to throw several different looks at Irving and Luka Doncic.
Doncic is tied for the league lead in assists (8.8 per game) this postseason, to go with 28.8 points. Irving, who is averaging 22.8 points, has nailed 42.1 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Holiday said he’s embracing the challenge of guarding the prolific pair.
“They are in a really good groove,” Holiday said. “Not just scoring, but playmaking, making the team better in crucial moments and closeout games and whatever it is. They’ve been performing very, very great. So, it’s not going to be easy, but it will be fun.”
Al Horford said he enjoyed playing with Irving because he benefitted from his ability to open things up for teammates. Considering Irving’s history with the franchise, Horford is expecting Thursday’s Game 1 atmosphere to be intense.
“Our fans, they care. They care a lot about the Celtics,” Horford said. “They care about Boston and this has been spoken about already, but when he left, it wasn’t ideal for everyone here.
“I know the fans — it’s the Finals. Regardless of who is coming in and who is not, it’s going to be lively. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be loud. TD Garden is going to be ready to go and it’s one of those environments that you want to play in.”
Emotional response
Mazzulla said he found some of the comparisons between Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, along with comments on their relationship this postseason, to be unfair and upsetting.
“I’m kind of praying about how deep I really want to get into that because the whole thing about that really pisses me off,” Mazzulla said. “I think it’s unfair to both of them. I think it’s stupid that people have to use those two guys names and use information that they don’t know to create clickbait so that they can stay relevant.
“It’s very unfair that those two get compared. They’re two completely different people, they’re two completely different players. They’re great teammates. They love each other, and they go about winning and they go about their process in a different way.”
Other star duos in the NBA do not deal with similar treatment, Mazzulla said. He said it’s because of the platform that Tatum and Brown have, along with all they have accomplished on the court.
“People need them to stay relevant and they should not talk on speculation. They should get to know them as people before they talk about that stuff,” Mazzulla said. “They’re two of the greatest teammates and players you can have and it’s been an honor to coach both of them. It doesn’t mean they have to be the same, so it’s [expletive]. I love both of them and they deserve better.”
Porzingis’s progression
Kristaps Porzingis, out more than a month with a calf strain, was spotted taking 3-pointers from different spots around the arc at practice Friday.
“He’s getting better. He was out there shooting,” Mazzulla said. “He went through a couple of drills in practice, so progressing well and kind of confident in where he’s at right now.”
Mazzulla would not say whether Porzingis is ready to take the floor Thursday night.
“I’m confident in where he is at on whatever day today is,” Mazzulla said.
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