The Boston Celtics managed to take care of business by sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the opening round of the playoffs. It seems point guard Kyrie Irving is well aware that their impressive start to the postseason no longer matters.
In fact, Irving is convinced that nothing that has happened until now matters when their series versus the Milwaukee Bucks begins.
According to Nicole Yang of Boston.com, he indicated that at the end of the day the better team always comes out on top:
“It’s an even playing field. All the regular-season stats, all the hype around the regular season, everybody can have it. At this point, it’s just about 5 vs. 5 and who’s better at the end of the day.”
There is certainly plenty of truth to Irving's comments. This notion should serve Boston well considering their massive struggles throughout the course of the 2018-19 NBA season. It is no secret that their troubles were magnified by Irving's uncertain future in Boston. Fortunately, they have now managed to get to the point where it is win or go home.
Irving was his usual dominant self in the series against the Pacers. The Celtics now face their most daunting test against the top-seeded Bucks. Boston was able to take the series split during the regular season thanks to their homecourt advantage.
Unfortunately, Milwaukee will be the ones with homecourt advantage this time around unless they can steal a game on the road early on.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see they can continue to their winning ways on Sunday.