Kyrie Irving was excellent Wednesday night as the Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 117-108 at TD Garden. He scored 27 points, dished out a career-high 18 assists and completely took over down the stretch as the C’s earned a statement win against the Eastern Conference’s top team.
That was just the beginning of Irving’s fireworks, too, as the Celtics point guard revealed after the game that he called former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James over the weekend to apologize for how he acted as an ambitious younger player.
Jalen Rose weighed in on Irving’s performance and postgame comments Thursday on ESPN’s “Get Up!” and explained what exactly the 26-year-old needs to do for the Celtics to reach their potential as legitimate NBA Finals contenders.
The Celtics have been inconsistent this season despite Irving and Gordon Hayward rejoining a team that took James and the Cavaliers to seven games in the Eastern Conference finals last season. It’s not too late for them to right the ship, though, so perhaps Wednesday’s happenings — before and after the game — will go a long way toward galvanizing the C’s.
