Boston Celtics: Kyrie Irving records triple-double in dethroning Kings

Kyrie Irving notched his second career triple-double last night, leading the Boston Celtics to their 12th consecutive home win when facing the Sacramento Kings.

We’re in week 22 of the NBA season and it seems as though (knock on wood) things are finally beginning to click for the 2018-19 Boston Celtics.

It seemed as though following a brutal end to the first half of the season and rough start post All-Star break that Celtics fans were subjected to becoming accustomed to an unhealthy routine.

Watching a young, talented team underperform against subpar competition and then kick back for a post-game compilation of conflicting shots of criticism and “he said, she said” nonsense. However since the Celtics took the apparent six plus hour plane ride of the year from Boston to Golden State, all has shifted for the better.

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Kyrie Irving has done his part with recent comments indicating a more matured Irving late in the season. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes that I take full responsibility for. I apologize” Irving stated to Yahoo Sports.

That maturity showed Thursday night against the Kings.

The Boston Celtics entered the TD Garden Thursday against the Sacramento Kings following an ugly 25-point loss against the Los Angeles Clippers to end their West Coast road trip. That’s an obliterating loss to a Western Conference team that’s barely compiled enough wins on their season to just sneak into the playoffs at currently 39-30.

Nevertheless, the C’s certainly needed a refresher, bounce back night against the team they’ve won the last 11 when facing in Boston.

Irving answered the call, helping slash through a 17-point Kings lead in the first half. Through the first two quarters Irving scored 19 points, connecting 7-of-13 shots from the field with three rebounds, four assists, and a steal. That cut Sacramento’s lead to just six by the end of the games first twenty-four minutes.

In the second came the leader within Irving, scoring 12 points with seven rebounds, and eight assists on just 4-of-15 shooting. Nevertheless despite a rough second half from the field, Irving managed to find other sources of production offensively from his supporting cast.

Jaylen Brown finished the night with 22 points, 13 coming in the second half of play while Marcus Morris racked up 14 of his 21 points in quarters three and four. Through Mook’s last five he’s now averaged 15.4 points with 5.6 rebounds on 48.3 percent shooting from the field. That dates back to Boston’s kickoff night to to their rejuvenated thirty-three point win, season start against the Warriors.

A complete display of dominance

As for Uncle Drew himself, his 30-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist effort earned him his second career triple-double night and the first of any Boston Celtics player this season.

In fact, Irving has totaled six games of scoring 30+ points and collecting 10+ assists through 57 games while the rest of the entire NBA has seen five in 441 games. Irving’s last triple-double came on February 28 of 2014 against the Utah Jazz.

This win didn’t as smoothy or anticipated, however thanks to Irving and Boston’s second-half ball movement which totaled 19 assists, the Celtics come out with their 42nd win.

Next. The 2018-19 Boston Celtics four-way road to redemption. dark

Standings wise the Boston Celtics remain at the five seed, just 1.5 games behind Philadelphia at four, and two games behind Indiana for the third seed. With 13 games remaining on Boston’s schedule, and with this new friendly Celtics squad, there’s certainly enough time to snag a few spots up on the standings.

Next up for the Boston Celtics is the Atlanta Hawks. Boston has defeated Atlanta in their previous two meetings this season, averaging 19.5 points in final score differential. The C’s will look to sweep the season series on Saturday against the Hawks. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m.

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