Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge says star point guard Kyrie Irving is getting too much blame for the team's playoff struggles.

The Celtics were the preseason favorite to win the Eastern Conference this season. The regular season was anything but pretty, as there was a lot of turmoil in Boston and Irving had a few controversial comments to the media.

But after the Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the postseason and won Game 1 of their second round series against the Milwaukee Bucks on the road, people thought Boston was turning a corner.

That turned out not to be the case, as the Bucks won four straight games to bounce the Celtics. Ainge, meeting with reporters on Wednesday for the first time since he suffered a mild heart attack in April, defended Irving.

“It’s unfortunate that one person gets credit or blame for team’s failures,” Ainge, said, via Celtics Blog. “I mean, we have a lot of reasons why the team failed this year and Kyrie deserves his share of the blame, but not anymore than anybody else. There’s a lot of guys that didn’t handle things the right way and make the sacrifices that needed to be done for the benefit of the team.”

There has been a lot of noise lately that Irving will not re-sign with the Celtics this summer in free agency. Uncle Drew becomes an unrestricted free agent once he declines his 2019-20 player option with Boston.

One way Ainge can help his cause is by trading for New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis. By acquiring Davis, it would increase the odds of Irving staying with the Celtics.