Boston Celtics: Dear Jaylen Brown, Kyrie Irving is not your friend
Dear Jaylen Brown, Kyrie Irving is not your friend…at least during the upcoming playoff matchup between the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics and No. 7 seed Brooklyn Nets.
The day Irving turned his back on Celtics fans and took his talents to Brooklyn, he became public enemy No. 1 with fans. When he wiped his foot on the historic logo following a first-round matchup in the 2020-21 NBA playoffs, he showed how he really felt about the organization and the team’s current stars should take that to heart.
Yes, that includes Jayson Tatum and Brown, who were obviously Irving’s teammates during his tenure in Boston and two players who continue to have a relationship with the Nets star.
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown opens up about his connection with Kyrie Irving
In a recent interview with NBC Sports Boston, Brown talked about that relationship and the positives that have come from the connection the two athletes now share.
"“Off the court, me and Kyrie might have started off with a lot of bumps in the road,” Brown said during the interview. “But as of lately, Kyrie is somebody that I’ve connected with. Somebody that I call a friend, a brother. Somebody that calls me to pick my brain at this point.”"
In the world of professional sports, there isn’t anything wrong with hit. The NBA is a brotherhood, and it is good for up-and-coming stars like Brown to have those relationships with other star players around the league…off the court. When it comes to the battle comes tip off, the Celtics players must put those relationships aside and view Irving, Kevin Durant and crew as public enemy No. 1.
Although Brown sees Irving as a brother, what every Boston Celtics fan must like about his comment is that he did say “off the court.” Despite having home-court advantage in this upcoming series, Brown and the Celtics are still seen as underdogs by some because of how dominant Irving and Durant can be when they are on their game. That is where that growing friendship must be put on the back-burner.
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During this Celtics-Nets series, Brown and Tatum must take it at Brooklyn and show the NBA world that they have arrived and are ready to feed off their hunger.
In other words, it is time for a little revenge on a team that took the Celtics out a year ago and a player who wiped his feet of the franchise three years ago when he took failed leadership and grumpy attitude to the Nets.
Yes, Irving says he is ready to move on, but fans and the Celtics as a team can’t move on until they show their former teammate what he left behind and that the team is also in a better position without him.
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That starts with how both Brown and Tatum spark their leadership on the court. As much as Kyrie pointed to them (the young guys) as the problem when he was in Boston (sitting on the sidelines more than he actually played), it’s time to show they have grown and that hunger to win is greater than whatever the Nets throw at them in this series.