Kyrie Irving failed to meet high expectations in Boston this season, says Grant Hill
Thursday 9 May 2019 12:41, UK
Kyrie Irving failed to meet the high expectations of the Boston Celtics fans and the team's season is a "complete failure", according to NBA TV analysts Grant Hill and Isiah Thomas.
The Celtics entered the season with title aspirations with a deep roster and two straight trips to the Eastern Conference finals under their belt.
But their campaign, disrupted by locker room discord and speculation over Irving's future with the team, ended limply as they were blown out 116-91 by the Milwaukee Bucks, condemning 'Gang Green' a 4-1 series defeat.
Speaking on NBA TV, former All-Star Grant Hill said: "For all the excitement of last year and the anticipation of [Kyrie] coming back [to the team after a long-term] injury, they just never got it going.
"To watch them unravel in this series after winning the first game, things got worse and worse and worse. It's almost like Milwaukee truly exposed what we assumed from watching the Celtics this season - a team with a disjointed, dispirited locker room.
"Kyrie, as their best player, a lot will be put on his lap. I'm sure he'll receive a lot of criticism this summer and, maybe, rightfully so. It's not just his play. He didn't look into it tonight. It's his leadership, his press conferences - he has been indifferent and disengaged.
"There are certain franchises were you just can't do that - Boston is one of them. There is an expectation there of success, working hard and having integrity in terms of how you approach games. Kyrie didn't live up to that as their marquee guy."
Speaking after the Celtics' playoff exit, Irving spoke of "a lot of lessons to take from this season". NBA Hall-of-Famer Thomas told NBA TV he felt Irving and Boston head coach Brad Stevens both had lessons to learn after the Celtics' tumultuous season.
"They as an organisation and a team - and Kyrie and Gordon Hayward as individuals - did not live up to expectations," he said.
"With LeBron James out west and two returning All-Stars in Kyrie and Hayward coming back to the team, you would expect they would be dominant and coach Stevens would find a way for them to dominate the East. None of that happened.
"Why didn't it happen? [Stevens] said he did a bad job - that's one. Two: Kyrie didn't live up to his expectations. Three: the leadership from Kyrie also wasn't there. If you wanted to go four, you'd say Hayward's injury [and recovery].
"So there are a lot of reasons why it didn't come together. But at the end of the day it is a complete failure for the Boston Celtics this year."
