Thanks in large part to the efforts of Kyrie Irving, the Boston Celtics claimed their fifth win of the season on Tuesday night, defeating the Detroit Pistons in 108-105 fashion. Following the game, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens had high praise for the leadership that Irving is beginning to display.

“He's doing a great job of leading and the ball will go through the net,” Stevens said during his post-game media availability. “That's inevitable.”

Irving, who was sporting a fresh fade, had a break-out performance on Tuesday night. In his 33 minutes of playing time, the former Duke Blue Devil posted 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting (4-of-7 from beyond the arc, 7-of-8 from the charity stripe), five assists, five rebounds, and one steal.

Prior to Tuesday night's game, Irving was struggling to find a rhythm. In fact, in Boston's season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, Uncle Drew recorded just seven points on 2-of-14 shooting. However, it sounds like he drew a bit of inspiration from Celtics legend Tommy Heinsohn, who now serves as a broadcaster for Boston. Apparently, Heinsohn noted that Irving needed to get in better shape.

Via CelticsBlog.com:

“It’s always great when someone challenges you like that. Especially the respect I have for past Celtics legends,” Irving said. “I think he made it very clear to me. I caught wind of it probably like a week ago, and it bothered me because it was the most honest thing anyone had said about the way I was playing.”

Irving and the Celtics will be back in action on Thursday night, when they'll welcome the Milwaukee Bucks to TD Garden. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. EST with TNT having live broadcast coverage.