Boston Celtics: Kyrie Irving questionable on the road in Brooklyn
Kyrie Irving will travel with the Boston Celtics to Brooklyn on Tuesday, but he’s questionable for the game itself against the Nets.
Kyrie Irving is a star and a stud for the 2017 Boston Celtics, but they have shown they can win even without him on the court.
Irving is questionable for the Celtics Tuesday night game in Brooklyn, but he will travel with the team to New York. He missed Sunday’s game against the Toronto Raptors with a minor facial fracture. When he does he return, Irving will be sporting a new face mask, but he won’t let that slow him down.
With Irving absent, the Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to an NBA-best 12-games on Sunday. Al Horford stepped up as the leader of the team, and Boston overcame a big start by the Raptors. Horford had 21-points in the win, but it’s really a whole team effort to replace Kyrie on the court. Of course, Boston has already overcome the injury to Gordon Hayward this season, and the next man up mentality is working with this squad.
"“It took the whole team tonight to take over the absence of Kyrie,” said Marcus Smart. “He’s missed greatly, tremendously on this team. But that just shows the type of team we are. One of our brothers goes down again and we respond with a win.”"
The Celtics have really leaned on some young players this season, and it’s been working. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are showing why they’re viewed as future all-stars, and Terry Rozier has really picked up his game in year 3. Shane Larkin, who was brought in to fill a bench role, is playing amazing as well. In Boston’s win over Charlotte last week, he added 16 points off the bench after Irving left the game. If Kyrie is out again on Tuesday, we could see some more Shane Larkin.
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The Celtics will look to maintain their winning streak on Tuesday in Brooklyn before a home clash with the Golden State Warriors. The top two teams in the NBA will meet at TD Garden on Thursday. Boston could become the clear #1 team in the NBA with two more wins here, without Gordon Hayward on the court. Boston looks like they are going to make a run towards the NBA Finals this season, and that experience is going to be huge for the young core going forward. This has been a magical Celtics season so far, and hopefully, it just keeps going on and on.