Boston Celtics: Kyrie Irving must channel his inner LeBron

With the Boston Celtics season in panic mode, it’s time for Kyrie Irving to show he’s a leader on the court.

When the Boston Celtics are up, they look like the best team in the league.  When they are down, they can fall behind a team like the Brooklyn Nets by as many as 27 points with or without Kyrie Irving.

In a Jekyll and Hyde 2018-19 NBA season, this version of the Celtics is still searching for an identity.  Will they find it before it’s too late?

Well, that may come down to whether or not Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge senses enough urgency to make a move.

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At this point, a trade may be what the 25-18 Boston Celtics need to get their act together.  Too much talent and depth is now becoming the excuse instead of being the team’s strength.  A lack of doing the little things necessary to be a championship contender has now led to public shoving matches and calling each other out.

It has also led to a frustrated super star who has seemingly reached his limit.  A player who left the side of the great LeBron James to lead his own team now has the challenging task of leading his own team.  It is what he wanted, but like the young players he has publicly pointed the finger at, this all has become the experience he needs to lead.

We all know Kyrie Irving is an outstanding talent on the floor.  The man is an assassin in big games.  He knows what it takes to win, but perhaps now is his time to use what he learned from watching LeBron James lead a team and apply his own version of it to the younger Boston Celtics.

While he has been more straightforward in calling out teammates than LeBron’s passive aggressive approach, he simply needs to show the younger players like Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown how to bring energy game in and game out even when the shots aren’t falling.  Similar to LeBron James, he must do the little things it takes to make the players around him better.

For the most part, he has been doing that on the court.  Now it’s time to stop calling out the players publicly and simply show them through his leadership on the court.  It’s all about competing and fighting even when things aren’t going well in a particular game.  He summed it up himself when he said the following:

"“You can’t gamble and think that it is going to be the winning play,” Irving said following the loss in Orlando, via Celtics.com.  “You have to be able to play through the whole 48 minutes no matter what is going on and hold your head high when you make mistakes.  When your job is called upon, you have to do it to the best of your ability.  You have to come in and make an impact from the minutes that you are playing out there.  You have to appreciate being out there and just competing.”"

What Kyrie needs to do better

Just a few games ago, Kyrie Irving was in the mix for league MVP.  He still is based on his numbers.  However, his public out calling, and display of emotion has some wondering if he even still wants to stay in Boston.

While doing things on the court like getting his teammates involved and knowing when to take over a game are challenges that he must face, being a distraction off the court is what can officially kill this team.

What Kyrie Irving must do better is keep those outbursts internal.  If he has issues with the younger players or any other player, showing them up on the court is not making things better.  What Irving must show the rest of this season is that he is not just a complementary star but is capable of being the star on his own team.

Yes, there is a ton of talent on the team and they can with without him.  But, like he is telling other players to do, Kyrie Irving has to embrace his role on this Boston Celtics team even if that means he is not taking the last shot in the game.  A talent like Irving can impact a game without scoring 50 points.  Just the threat that he could will open up things for others.  This is particularly the key on the road, where the struggles of the team really come out.

Brad Stevens and this Celtics team have to figure out how to score and play their kind of basketball when Irving is not in the game.  That is something he can help his team do while also having patience with them if they are not succeeding.

It’s all a learning process…even for Kyrie Irving.