Despite their 126-116 loss to the struggling Chicago Bulls (16-44), Kyrie Irving maintains facing the Boston Celtics in the playoffs remains no easy task.
"You know, it is what it is. Like I said, I don't get frustrated about this stuff anymore," Irving said post-game. "It's just part of the regular season. In the playoffs when we can plan for a team, prepare for a team, I still don't see anybody beating us in seven games."
Kyrie still doesn't see anyone beating the Celtics in 7 games (Presented by https://t.co/Av8GdCiYr0 ) pic.twitter.com/8rwntIKrCa
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) February 24, 2019
Boston, who boast a top-five defence in the league, saw Zach LaVine (42 points on 17-of-29 shooting) and Lauri Markkannen (35 points on 12-of-20 shooting) both explode for career-highs as Boston dropped their fourth game from their past six outings.
Despite the shock loss on the road to the Eastern Conference's third-worst team, Irving was confident when asked whether the Celtics' struggles heading into the playoffs.
"No, we'll be fine," he said, via ESPN's Chris Forsberg. "Because I'm here."
Irving led the Celtics with a team-high 37 points and 10 assists on the night and while the Celtics now sit at 37-23 on the season for fifth-place in the Eastern Conference standings, the 26-year-old says this lull is just part of the ups and downs of the regular season.
“You just gotta be able to adapt,” Irving added, via Boston.com. “In this league, the teams that adapt the quickest, or they adapt at the right time, are successful in the playoffs. We’re still waiting for that thing to click. We’ve gone on eight games, six games, four games winning streaks and then we’ll hit a lull of three games and we’re back answering questions like this, so, it is what it is.
“Like I said, I don’t get frustrated about this stuff anymore. It’s just part of the regular season. In the playoffs, when we can plan for a team, prepare for a team, I still don’t see anybody beating us in seven games.”
The Celtics now have two days to re-group, before squaring off against the second-placed (44-16) Toronto Raptors, who are currently riding a seven-game win streak.
You can catch that game on Tuesday on SN1 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
