Picture Credit: NBA
The Brooklyn Nets have been eliminated by the Boston Celtics in a 4-0 sweep in their first-round playoff series. This will be the second season where Brooklyn has failed to make the finals with stars like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. In the final game of the series, Kyrie had 20 points with five rebounds and five assists while KD had 39 points as they lost by 116-112.
In the post-match press conference, Kyrie talked about how he wants to stay with the franchise and the members of this team on and off the court are like family. He said, “In terms of my extension, man, I don't really plan on going anywhere, so, like I said, this is added motivation for our franchise to be at top of the league for the next few years.”
“When I say I'm here with (Kevin Durant), I think that it entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe (Tsai) and Sean (Marks). Just our group of family members that we have in our locker room, in our organization.
He then addressed the importance of the upcoming offseason.“It's not just about me and Kev. I don't wanna make it just about that. We're cornerstones here but we have a few other guys out on contract. I think we just gotta make some moves this offseason,” he continued.
“I felt like I was letting the team down”
Irving also discussed the entire vaccination situation surrounding him. He expressed how everything surrounding that issue was a ‘distraction’ and ‘emotionally heavy’. Kyrie then opened up about he felt that he was letting the team down.
He said, “I think it was just really heavy emotionally this season. We all felt it. I felt like I was letting the team down at a point where I wasn't able to play,” Irving said. “We were trying to exercise every option for me to play but I never wanted it to be just about me.
"It became a distraction at times and as you see we just had some drastic changes. We lost a franchise player and we got a franchise player back but we didn't get a chance to see him on the floor."