Boston Celtics Depending Too Much on Kyrie Irving?

The Boston Celtics need the players around Kyrie Irving to step up

The Boston Celtics lost their second consecutive game on Thursday night as they fell to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden 102-93. The Celtics haven’t suffered back-to-back losses since their 0-2 start to the season. Kyrie Irving finished with 32 points.

Kyrie Irving had one 30-point game in his first 15 games of the season. In his last 18 games, Irving has had 11 30-point game performances. The Celtics are starting to rely on his offensive prowess too much, and unfortunately, other players are not stepping up. In fact, no other Celtics player has had a 30-point game this season.

Boston has not played with the fire and the hunger that they played with early in the season. During their 16-0 run, they came out wanting to win every single night. You felt like they were never going to lose because they had a consistent winning mindset.

Over their last nine games, the Celtics are 4-5. Their defense has been slowly slipping (they couldn’t find any sort of answer to Michael Beasley), but the consistent offensive production from players not named Kyrie Irving has been absent.

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Jayson Tatum was second in scoring for the Celtics tonight with 17 points. Al Horford and Marcus Smart were tied for third with 10 points each. Yes, Jaylen Brown, another offensive option was out, but that isn’t going to cut it. The bench combined for 20 points on 7-23 shooting from the field.

One of the big issues, especially in terms of a spark off the bench, is the injury to Marcus Morris. Morris brings immediate offense, spacing, and versatility. The Celtics are really going to miss what he can do for this team.

The Celtics need to start playing with purpose, energy, and movement, just like they did when they were winning games early on.

They look lackadaisical and we often find everybody waiting for Kyrie Irving to make a miraculous play. Irving has the talent and the ability to carry this team and to hit big shots. However, that is not an excuse for everyone else to be slacking off when it comes to their own game.

Next: Celtics cannot take talent for granted

The Al Horfords and Marcus Smarts of the world have been with this team the longest, it is on them to take some of the pressure off of Irving. This means that they need to bring it every single night, especially when it comes to putting points on the board.