MIAMI — At 25, Kyrie Irving admits his priorities as one of the greatest scorers in the NBA have changed. The 47 points he scored Monday night in Dallas might have been necessary in that game, but that’s no longer the kind of number that dominates his nightly thoughts.
“The focus is a lot different on a lot of different things when you’re younger,” Irving said before Wednesday morning’s shootaround at AmericanAirlines Arena. “Also it could be different things you’re going through where you are, or just development.
“You watch the rest of the guys win championships and get accolades that are team-oriented, and that starts to mean a lot more for those players, because that’s what your legacy is going to be remembered by. It’s always good to have those individual accolades, but it’s not like being on an unbelievable team.”
Irving, of course, has already been on an unbelievable Cleveland team that, thanks to his 3-pointer with 53 seconds left in Game 7, beat Golden State for the 2016 NBA title.
But his priorities have changed, with a Celtics system that values spacing and ball movement perfect for his evolving way of thinking.
“Some guys get there a lot quicker,” said Irving. “For example, the prototypical guy is (San Antonio’s) Kawhi (Leonard). He’s been in the Spurs system since he was a kid, being in that culture and learning how to be a winner right when he came into the league.
“Other guys, it can vary on where you’re picked, going into a situation where your focus is on how many points you can score when you’re in a game, the accolades that separate you from the rest of the group.”
Irving believes that maturity influenced his reaction when Gordon Hayward went down with a season-ending leg injury on opening night in Cleveland.
“I just think that was my approach coming in, to be as unselfish as possible, but also understand that my mark as a player as well was to be for the betterment of the group,” he said. “I had to figure out how to do my best at that, and it was going to be pretty easy from there.”
That was especially true during the two performances before Wednesday night’s game against Miami. In addition to averaging 38.5 points in the wins over Atlanta and Dallas, he shot 26 of 34 overall (.764) and 10 of 13 (.769) from downtown.
“Pretty fun out there, man. Makes the game a lot easier,” he said. “We have guys who want to do everything out there to win a game, and it’s been improving every single night.”
Irving added that only now is he in what he calls “tip-top” shape.
“The summer was a little hectic for me, so coming in I wasn’t in as (optimal) shape as I would have liked to be at the start of it,” he said. “Preseason wasn’t great for that, and the beginning of the season wasn’t great at all; just a lot of extra things you just had to get used to. And now that we’re getting further into the season, 19 games, you just start hitting a mark where a guy gets into his ultimate rhythm.”
Said Coach Brad Stevens: “It’s all about making the right next basketball play, and he sees the game at such a high level. He has such incredible skill that he’s going to draw a lot of attention.
“Sometimes the right basketball play is to make a kick-out, sometimes to make a shot, and he has made it over and over. He’s been terrific.”
KELLY OLYNYK can’t exactly say it’s like he never left Boston. Not while sunny November days are breaking 80 degrees in his new city.
But if the Miami forward actually harbored a desire to not hear about his former team and the 16-game winning streak it carried into Wednesday night’s game, it wouldn’t be possible.
“It’s hard not to (hear about the Celtics), they’ve been everywhere,” Olynyk said Wednesday. “They’ve been doing a fantastic job. Just finding ways to win games. That’s where they’re at right now.”
Asked if any additional motivation came with the opportunity to break a long winning streak, Olynyk shrugged.
“A little bit. It’s more we want to win than stop the streak,” he said. “If they’re coming in on a 16-game losing streak, we still want to win. But 16 games is a good feat. … It’s fun – fun being able to see those guys that you played with and the staff you worked with for multiple years. … You know what they’re going to do, it’s the same system pretty much. But they run it real well.”
AFTER SOME doubt, Marcus Morris declared himself fit to play Wednesday following a flare-up in his tender left knee. The Celtics are being particularly cautious by putting a minutes restriction on the power forward and a ban on playing both ends of back-to-back games.
The Celtics have another such swing coming up this weekend, with Friday night’s home game against Orlando followed by a Saturday night game in Indianapolis.
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