Oh, to have been a fly on the wall there. I'm really interested to know who Kyrie was referring to regarding the selfish play.
Chris Forsberg was just interviewed on Boston Sports Tonight, he said if he had to guess it was directed at the younger guys. Jaylen saying he didn't take anything personal suggests that he was the subject of some of the criticism. I'm planning to watch the 1st half again to see if I can pick up any selfish play.
Kyrie said they have 49 games to go still, this is the time when teams start to really show what they are made of, these next 30-40 games.
He’s prob referring to Jayson CarmeloTATUM
Kyrie included himself as an example of getting caught up in iso ball. I'm assuming the tone of the meeting was about staying the course and committing to team play, as opposed to calling out specific players. I think this group likes and respects each other off the court. The "selfish play" and lack of effort is a natural tendency when the group loses confidence.
On a side note, many of us have gotten caught up in comparing this group to last years team. It's too hard to ignore how fun they were to watch. I'd like to remind people that:
- The 2017-2018 Celtics routinely had offensive lapses and fell behind early in games. Instead of labeling their struggles as "selfish play", we were able to justify them by citing a lack of talent and/or inexperience.
- The crazy comebacks allowed us to ignore their shortcomings throughout most of the regular season
- They had the benefit of embracing the underdog role
- Horford was essentially the best team player in the NBA for the first 30+ games. He and Kyrie covered up many of ours flaws. They were dynamite in the 4th quarter of close games.
- The new defensive rules weren't in place yet. I doubt last years Celtics would have overcome the same deficits with this years rules
- Pace of play, along with the rule changes, has increased parity throughout the league. The best teams in the East have also gotten better. Toronto, Milwaukee, and Philly are all MUCH better than last years. It's not even close.
The inconsistency has been extremely frustrating but I'm not coming to any conclusions. I need to see how they play against elite competition when they are completely healthy.