Kyrie Irving lived up to his reputation Wednesday night in the Boston Celtics’ 99-91 win over the Indiana Pacers at TD Garden.
The Celtics point guard scored a game-high 37 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out seven assists and, most importantly, took over when Boston needed him most down the stretch.
The effort further cemented Irving’s status as one of the NBA’s best closers, and Nick Wright explained Thursday on FS1’s “First Things First” why the performance was “one of the best playoff games” of the 27-year-old’s career.
"Kyrie was absolutely sensational. This was one of the best playoff games of his career, because this was the first great playoff of his career where he had to be THE guy. They would've lost without him. He was brilliant in every quarter." — @getnickwright pic.twitter.com/RQ2TDKVMlV
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) April 18, 2019
The Celtics’ victory gave them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which shifts to Indiana on Friday night. It probably wouldn’t have been possible without Irving, though, and that alone makes his effort all the more impressive, even when stacked up against his past, championship-winning accomplishments with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
