At the beginning of this season, many NBA experts and analysts chose the Boston Celtics as their favorite to win the Eastern Conference crown. Their conviction was reasonable, as the team has a bunch of talented players on the roster, including Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Though Boston's lineup is loaded with great athletes, Irving says he wants the team to focus on the little things:

“Yeah, we have the talent, but it’s not enough in this league. It’s not enough,” Irving told reporters after Thursday's 127-113 loss to the Houston Rockets. “For us, it’s just about making sure we’re doing the little things. I was talking to a couple of our guys, a couple of our veterans, just making sure we stay on our young guys as well as us and having the responsibility of doing the little things — boxing out, limiting those guys to one shot per possession.”

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His team was defeated on Thursday night, but Irving still managed to notch 23 points and 11 assists in 36 minutes of playing time. Marcus Morris added 19 points before he was ejected midway through the fourth quarter, and Jaylen Brown notched 18 points off the bench.

Irving, now 26 years of age, is enjoying a fine season with the Celtics, who are currently holding a 20-14 overall record. In fact, the former Duke Blue Devil is posting some of the best statistics of his career.

In his 32 appearances with Boston this season, Uncle Drew has racked up averages of 23.3 points on 48.7 percent shooting from the field (41.1 percent from beyond the arc), 6.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 32.4 minutes per outing.

Irving and the Celtics will be back in action on Saturday night, as they're scheduled for a matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies. Tip-off inside FedExForum is set for 8:00 p.m. ET.