The day before Thanksgiving, an ordinary regular season game became hilarious as Irving faced his old club for the first time since leaving the Celtics.
However, Irving has missed several games in a row because of a right shoulder injury and he has not even come to Boston with the team. The protagonist is hidden, and Celtic fans still prepare a grand "welcome ceremony" for Irving. Prominently posted in front of the North Shore Gardens Arena is a poster of Owen with the words "Coward" printed on it, and the Green Army team believes that Irving is injured and does not dare to "go home" to play the game.
The arena was also full of slogans and cardboard that "paid tribute" to Owen — "Where's Irving Gone," "Irving Is Bad," "Owen Hiding," and of course, "Walker > Owen," accompanied by boos pointing directly at Irving. Some fans even held up the "Kante > Irving", anyway, in the minds of Green Army fans, any one person can be greater than Irving, when Thomas Jr. returned here last season, the fans held up "Irving is not as good as Little Thomas Jr." "Please help us get Little Thomas back".
"The stars come home" has always been a topic-making machine, and the only two outcomes that await them are very different - being saluted, or being booed. But, in our memory, never a star has ever come home to be treated with such intense malice as Kyrie Owen.
What the hell is going on here?
Just because of Owen's reclusive personality, because he is not good at communicating with his teammates, and therefore can't play team basketball? If all the Celtics need is a seemingly enjoyable form of "team basketball," then why would Angie decisively trade Thomas Jr. + Crowder + Dayich + a first-round pick for Irving after Thomas Jr. led the team to the East Conference Finals unexpectedly? Because, despite Thomas Jr.'s great performances that season, his ceiling and the ceiling of the Celtics he led were visible to the naked eye. People say that every floor under the TD North Shore Garden Arena is a great history, and such a history is not laid by the happy team basketball, it is the champion!
Before the deal, Kyrie Irving had just helped LeBron James win the championship and made history because no team in NBA history had ever completed a comeback with a 1-3 deficit in the Finals, but they did. In the crucial fifth game, Irving scored 41 points on 17-of-24 shooting and had six assists and two steals to help the Cavaliers choke the throat of fate. In Game 7 of the Finals, it was Irving's last-minute 3-point kill to eliminate this miraculous champion. LeBron won the final fmvp, but Irving's Finals performance and stats are also considered fmvp level. And that's the core reason why Angie welcomed Owen, who has already proven himself to be a superstar, despite being only 25 years old.
It just so happens that Owen also wants to be a true leader. Kyrie Owen's name ,"kyrie", was taken by his father, which means "monarch" in Greek, and the meaning is self-evident—perhaps from the moment he was born, he was destined to be a leader, or to fight to be a leader all the time. Everyone's life choices are different, some people just want champions, some people just want money, and some people want to be the boss.
So he left LeBron James's wings, just like Kobe Bryant left O'Neal, of course, they were widely questioned and even blamed for this.
Celtic fans hate Irving so much for only one reason, he didn't bring a championship to the city. They don't think about it, Irving was only 25 when he arrived, with a bunch of talented but younger teammates. In just two short seasons, he suffered a lot of injuries personally and the whole team, and he also met a very good but "egalitarian" coach.
Maybe it's just inappropriate between them, like a relationship.
Is Walker really bigger than Owen? Walker averaged 21.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.1 turnovers per game this season; Irving averaged 23.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.6 turnovers last season. Walker shot 40.0 percent this season, 38.9 percent from three-point range, and 91.7 percent from free throws to 1.016 points per game; Irving shot 48.7 percent from the season, 40.1 percent from three-point range and 87.3 percent from the free throw line last season, scoring 1.056 points per game.
Well, throw the raw and cold data aside, and the new joy is happy. Today's Green Army fans are convinced that Kemba Walker is a better fit for the team than Irving, which is only the post-17 regular season definition.
Time will give the best answer.
When we have the answer in mind first and try to prove that our answer is correct, we will inevitably become a "Texas sharpshooter" - you shoot first, and then draw a bullseye where the bullet hits, making yourself like a sharpshooter.
The Austrian poet Rilke once wrote in his book about Rodin that "honor is the sum of all misunderstandings".
I believe that if one day Irving leads a team to an NBA championship in his own way, then all the misconceptions about him will turn out to be different. Just like Kobe Bryant, who led the team alone to two championships before always being considered too alone to cooperate, was always considered the one who forced the Sharks to swim east; just like LeBron James was always considered the invisible man at the crucial moment before winning the championship, a great soft egg. As you know, they succeeded later, and then Kobe Bryant's uniqueness became a great dedication, and LeBron's passing at key moments became the most reasonable choice for a natural leader. In fact, their basketball narrative has never changed.
Perhaps, it may be that Irving can't win the championship in his own way, but that doesn't mean his presence as a great singles player and a horror terminator, his fancy dribbling, ghostly breakthroughs, kaleidoscopic scoring methods... In fact, he is a natural performer, almost every time he touches the ball can ignite people's enthusiasm, his basketball language can be defined by one word - "sauerk". Isn't the presentation of beauty one of the reasons basketball is widely loved?
The great Aaron Iverson never had a crown in his life, never changed his play for the championship, succumbed to the mainstream, and was always free of himself, but he was a symbol of independence and solitude in the history of the NBA.
Between imperfect artists and first-class craftsmen, between self-obsessed fighters and compromised successes, I will always love the former.
In the face of a flood of boos, Owen posted a long, philosophical post on social media that ended with the words, "The love of the art [of basketball] is the only thing that can keep pure people within this huge entertainment circus." ”
Obviously, the "pure people" here, including the players, but also the fans.
Owen is acutely aware that today's stadium has been reduced to a global live television circus show, and he should have understood what the circus really should be presented before others.