Boston has been having a very turbulent season so it would only makes sense that a plane ride would fix the season. To begin the Celtics west coast road trip, Kyrie Irving and the team had a heart to heart about everything. According to Al Horford what happened was that "Kyrie was instrumental because he was the one that initiated everything as far as being like, ‘Hey, let’s have conversations, let’s play cards, let’s do this, let’s do that' on this plane ride.” Kyrie starting this conversation made this 6 hour plane ride go by faster, Horford said. Since this plane ride the Celtics are 3-1, and when they win they are winning by an average of 16 points on this stretch.
The Celtics did have a very impressive 33 point victory over the Golden State Warriors, with Hayward scoring 30 points. It was promising to see Hayward scored 30 points with the playoffs coming closer. If the Celtics are to become real contenders in the Western Conference playoffs Hayward needs to become more of a factor. The Celtics then went on to win a close game over the Kings, where Hayward hit the game winning shot. Against the Lakers, the Celtics won on National TV by 13 points. Against the Clippers, the Celtics got blown out by 25 points and had 140 points scored on them ultimately it was for the best.
In a blowout typically it only tells you that the team didn't go out there and truly put in their best effort, but this blowout was very telling to the state of the Celtics. Instead of walking right off the court, Kyrie Irving waited for every single one of his teammates to get off the court first. Kyrie high fived everyone one of his teammates, and even waited for Hayward so Irving would be the last person off the court. Kyrie was still clapping everyone of his teammates buckets in the 4th. This is very telling that this plane ride actually affected Irving, it gave him a better sense of how to be a leader for this team. This blowout shows that even when it goes bad Kyrie is still willing to prove that he's going to be the leader for this team. It also sends a message to the Celtics that they need to work on their defense. The Clippers had their highest scoring game all year at 140 points. The Celtics are aspiring to make the Finals this year, if they want to do this they all need to pay attention on defense. This needs to begin with Kyrie, as a leader if he begins to play defense all the other players will play harder on this side of the ball also.
The Celtics are looking more like a team and Kyrie Irving is the reason for it. Terry Rozier told reporters that "Ky's our leader and when he's in a great mood and he's feeling good, we're hard to beat and it's contagious. It rubs off on everybody else. Sometimes when he's not like that, it can get everybody uptight. So the way he's been acting has been great, and it's been good for us.” This just shows how much these guys do look up to Kyrie, he's the clear leader in this locker room and his mood effects how much this teams overall mood is. When Kyrie was mad that locker was almost toxic, they didn't talk to each other and on the court everyone looked to be distant from each other. Since this plane ride, the Celtics looks like a basketball team again. Everyone is cheering each other on and they seem to be together. The Celtics are starting to be as one cohesive unite and this should worry the league going into the playoffs.
Kyrie Irving doing this leadership technique right after the media had destroyed him is interesting however for this summer. Kyrie wants a max deal and doesn't want that to be effected by his leadership style or health reasons. The other reason he did this turnaround could be that he wants to resign in Boston. Kyrie had that famous fan event interview where he said he wants to come back as long as Boston wants him to come back. Throughout the season the rumors began that Kyrie and Kevin Durant would team up in New York. Maybe Kevin Durant told Kyrie he's going to resign with the Warriors, so Kyrie is now trying to repair his relationship with the Celtics so he can resign to them.
The Celtics season was saved because of a plane ride where Kyrie would become a better leader from it. Since this plane ride the Celtics are 3-1, almost completing a complete sweep of all the California teams. Kyrie Irving looks like he's becoming a better leader now and this should scare the league. The Celtics were within a few minutes and a Terry Rozier 3 of making the finals. Now the Celtics have Irving and Hayward, they are going to be a force in the playoffs and the teams in the East better be ready.
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