Pregame Post-Ups: C’s Remain Confident Despite Irving News

BOSTON – A flock of reporters entered the Boston Celtics’ locker room Friday evening, curious to see if the team’s collective confidence had taken a hit after learning that their superstar leader, Kyrie Irving, would have to undergo season-ending knee surgery.

One reporter approached Irving's backup, Terry Rozier, and began to ask, “How far can this team go without – ”

But before the reporter was able to finish his question, Rozier already had a response.

“The Finals,” he confidently interjected.

Well, that answers that.

There’s no doubt that the Celtics are disappointed that they will be without their star point guard for the rest of the season, but that doesn’t mean that they are giving up hope on having a deep playoff run.

“Nobody’s looking down, nobody’s really depressed, nobody’s walking around with their head down,” said Rozier, whose Celtics were getting ready to host the Chicago Bulls in their fourth-to-last game of the regular season. “At the end of the day we’ve still got to get in between the lines and play ball, so there’s no excuses.”

While the Celtics were hoping that Irving would return in the Playoffs, they are also prepared to move on without him. Boston has won seven of its last 11 games without Irving, proving that they can still have success despite him being on the sideline.

“Ultimately we were preparing for his return, but we are really focused on the task at hand with the guys we have,” said Stevens. “So, [the decision for him to have surgery] basically solidified that this is where our focus needs to be from the standpoint of who we have and how we move forward.”

The most important thing is that the Celtics collectively believe in themselves and maintain their high level of confidence heading into the Playoffs. And it doesn’t seem like that will be an issue.

“We trust our coaches to put us in the best position for us to win games,” said Rozier. “We’ll follow the game plan and we’ll take care of business.”

- Taylor Snow