Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs Wednesday night after a 116-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Celtics won Game 1 of the series and were 5-0 in the playoffs until Giannis Antetokoumpo and company unleashed their wrath and won four straight games. Since the end of the series, Irving has faced some pretty hefty criticism for his performance and his subsequent leadership abilities. It is also believed that Irving will want to leave the Celtics in the offseason and for at least one of his teammates, that's probably a good thing.
An anonymous Celtics player blasted Irving while speaking to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman. He said that "everyone respects his talent,” although as a whole, he's an extremely difficult person to be around. "He’s hard to play with. It’s all about him," the player explained.
While some teammates dislike Kyrie, others have been rushing to his defense, such as Marcus Smart who said it's ridiculous that people are putting all of the blame on the six-time All-Star.
"Bull----," Smart said according to Sports Illustrated. "That's bull----. Not one of us on this team knows what Kyrie's been through. Probably a few amount of people in this world know what Kyrie goes through. It was hard for him as well. He was forced into a situation where it was business over the friendships, where he had to come into a situation knowing that, 'This is a group of guys that had something going before I came here. How will I fit in?' He didn't want to disrupt that. That says a lot."
Stay tuned for updates on the Kyrie situation as it progresses.
