BOSTON – There are some truths about Boston Celtics: The banners will always hang prominently from the gardeners, the opponent will always look green, and Hall of Famer Tommy Heinsohn will always highlight the virtues of
Right?
Well, hold on for a minute.
Heinsohn, the team’s television analyst, lovingly known in Boston to be an undamaged homer, departed from this usual attitude towards a 20’s broadcast when he questioned the conditioning of punishment and franchise player Kyrie Irving. Then, after a victory Saturday against the Detroit flasks, Heinsohn doubled and explained: “[Irving] looks like he is five kilos overweight, but I have not seen him on a scale.”
Irving responded Tuesday’s best electricity performance in the young season and sent a seasonally high 31
points in a home win against the pistols where he shot 10-of-16 from the field, including 4-in-7 from the 3-point lane. [19659002] He awarded five rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes and stood alone on a scintillating run in the third quarter that made tides.
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Kyrie Irving takes on the pistons himself, drainage of three 3 pointers from more than 25 feet in the third quarter.
After that, Irving explained in a brief interview with NBC Sports Boston reporter Abby Chin, “I want to scream out to my husband, Tommy Heinsohn.”
He suddenly turned away and left the parquet. Was he sarcastic? Jokey? Are you really grateful? Who can be sure? After all, is the world round, or not?
Irving was far more expansive in an interview with ex post interviews, admitting that Heinsohn was right: he needed to be better.
“I got wind of [his comments] probably as a week ago and it bothered me, because it was the most honest thing I had said about how I was playing,” Irving says. “I was literally forced to try to match a level like me had played last year but also get better, so how you do it is that I really should put the emphasis on my body and how I care about my mind. [Heinsohn’s comment] was one of the most real things I could have heard. As a competitor, if it does not get inside you, you want to get better, especially from a guy like Tommy Heinsohn, who can not make a mistake in his eyes if you’re a celtic … I appreciate it.
“That was the truth. I had to get better shape, I had to get more involved in what I did. I was on the bike the next morning and did everything possible to prepare my body.”
Irving comes from back-to-back knee operations that prematurely ended his initial season in Boston. During the first six matches, he shot 24.1 percent from beyond the bow – 39 percent in total – and seemed to squeeze. Coach Brad Stevens warned in the offense that it would take time for both Irving and Gordon Hayward, who was seriously injured, to regain their foot’s been true.
