Kevin Garnett Says Kyrie Irving Was Too Soft To Handle Boston

(NYDN) – Kevin Garnett was quick to answer whether he was surprised Kyrie Irving left Boston.

“No,” he said flatly, before implying that Irving, the Nets point guard, didn’t have the mental makeup for Beantown.

“Boston’s a tough town, dawg. You have to have some major cojones to be there,” Garnett said. “You got to want that. The people want it for you. That’s why Paul (Pierce) is perfect for it. Paul wants the shot every time. Like, ‘You’re 0-for-14.’ And he’s like, ‘I know, but they WANT it.’”

The year is 2078, and people are still talking about Kyrie Irving’s two year tenure in Boston. I don’t know when it’s going to end, but it’s certainly no time soon. And it was only a matter of time before KG chimed in with his two cents.

I agree with Kevin Garnett in the sense that Boston is a very specific town that embraces a lunch bucket, hustle type player over a crafty, finesse player 100 times out of 10. Marcus Smart has been beloved since day one. I’m still furious Kendrick Perkins was traded. Older Celtics fans will talk for hours about Dave Cowens diving all over the floor. Hell, most of the iconic plays in Celtics history are defensive plays. It’s just the kind of city we are. But I don’t think the guy who hit *this* shot

lacks the balls to do anything on a basketball court. Mentally, yeah, it wasn’t a fit. That much is profoundly clear by now. Boston is a tough town that wants its teams to echo its fans mentality. If you’re not gonna buy in 100%, people will not care how talented you are. If you’re gonna start randomly talking about government – not even politics, just the very concept of government – you better be busting your ass every single play. If not, the fan base will turn on you. And that’s exactly what happened with Kyrie. He’d rather get buckets and read Instagram posts on anarchist farming. Which plays in Brooklyn. Boston? Not as much.