Kyrie Irving on Celtics: ‘They’re playing a great brand of basketball’
Kyrie Irving spoke to the media following the Mavericks Game 2 loss to the Celtics and explains the brand of basketball Boston is playing and why they take a lot of pride in it.
DALLAS — ESPN NBA analyst Bob Myers asked a question to the other on-air panelists.
Who is the MVP of the NBA Finals so far in the Dallas Mavericks-Boston Celtics series?
“Jaylen Brown,” studio host Malika Andrews answered.
Knicks guard and guest analyst Josh Hart said Brown.
“Jrue Holiday,” Michael Wilbon said.
It was a trick question, a set up by Myers, the former Golden State front-office executive, to recognize one of the most important people involved in the Finals.
Myers’ MVP? Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens.
Now, the award will go to a player, but Myers’ point should not be overlooked. Stevens deserves immense credit for building a Celtics team that can win a championship now and possibly more in the next few seasons.
Largely quiet and away from the hullabaloo that are the Finals, Stevens doesn’t want attention on him. He said as much when he was named the NBA’s 2023-24 executive of the year in late April.
“This recognition has everything to do with the team, and nothing to do with any one individual,” he said in a statement. “Great teams require that everyone in the building is fully committed to each other and moving in one direction.”
Since leaving the bench as Boston’s head coach for the front office in 2021, Stevens has tinkered with the roster, making moves for this season that have given the Celtics their best team during the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum era and their best chance to win their first title since 2008.
Stevens’ acquisitions (Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday) before the 2023-24 season are two major reasons why the Celtics won a league-best 64 games during the regular season, had the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense, and reached the NBA Finals where they have a 2-0 lead against the Mavericks.
Porzingis, who Boston acquired from Washington in a three-team trade a year ago, had 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks in Game 1, and Holiday, for whom Boston traded just before the start of the season, had a team-high 26 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal in Game 2. They have made the Celtics more versatile offensively and defensively, limiting what opponents can do.
To get Porzingis, Stevens made difficult decisions, sending longtime Celtics guard Marcus Smart to Memphis. As the summer turned to autumn, it looked like the Celtics were done making moves until possibly the February trade deadline.
However, when Milwaukee traded Jrue Holiday to Portland in the Damian Lillard deal, and the Blazers had no intention of keeping Holiday, Stevens went to work. If A doesn’t happen, then B doesn’t happen. But when A happened − the Bucks traded for Lillard − the Celtics were prepared for B – acquiring Holiday.
“When I first got traded here, he was obviously one of the first people that I talked to, and I just think (of) his positive nature,” Holiday said. “He’s kind of this kind soul, somebody who has great energy about him. So every time that I talk to him and every time I see him, he’s always been encouraging. This has been from the beginning. It’s always nice to have somebody like that have your back and, again, somebody like that in your corner in your organization.”
Stevens also traded Kemba Walker to Oklahoma City to get Al Horford back in Boston, and the 17-year veteran remains a positive force on the court and in the locker room, and acquiring Derrick White from San Antonio at the 2022 trade deadline is another move that has given the Celtics offensive and defensive options that most teams don’t have.
While the Brown and Tatum picks were Danny Ainge’s front office moves, Stevens’ influence on the roster is why Boston is just two wins from breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for most titles in the league history.
It was a stunner when Stevens decided to leave the bench. But it’s not like Stevens hasn’t pulled a surprise before. He had been a successful coach at Butler for six seasons, including consecutive Final Four trips in 2010 and 2011 before abruptly leaving college basketball for the Celtics in 2013. In eight seasons as Boston’s coach, he compiled a 354-282 record and had a 38-40 playoff record, reaching the Eastern Conference finals three times.
But the grind of the regular season wore on Stevens, and Stevens suggested players needed a new voice. When Ainge decided to leave the Celtics, Stevens became the perfect replacement.
Two years ago, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said of Stevens, “He’s such an insightful person. It come out in his coaching, but it just comes out in his analysis of the game day in and day out. … Brad’s fingerprints and DNA are on this team right now in terms of putting it together and helping Danny. … This is a role Brad has been preparing for his whole life.”
Said Jaylen Brown: “Just happy for him. His schedule has been able to settle down, probably putting a little bit less stress on him than we did when he was coaching us.
“Brad has been great since he’s been a part of the Boston organization. He’s helped bring this organization back in terms of winning. He’s now been able to move into that GM position and put the right pieces together to get us back to the Finals.”
There have been setbacks. The Celtics lost to Golden State in the 2022 Finals after taking a 2-1 series lead, and then-Celtics coach Ime Udoka was suspended indefinitely just before the start of the 2022-23 season for “violations of team policy.”
Stevens made Joe Mazzulla the interim head coach and then the permanent head coach. Boston lost to Miami in last season’s Eastern Conference finals. Mazzulla grew as a coach, and Stevens gave him a better roster this season.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for how he went about coaching, how he kept family balance No. 1, how he treated people No. 1,” Mazzulla said. “That was always more important than whether there was a success or a failure. He spearheads the leadership, the temperature of the building, just as everybody else does.”
The Celtics still need two victories to capture their 18th championship, but Stevens also has positioned the Celtics to compete for championships in the next several seasons.
Brown is under contract through 2028-29, Holiday signed an extension in April that keeps him a Celtic through at least 2026-27, Porzingis’ contract is up after 2025-26 and Payton Pritchard’s deal is good through 2027-28.
There are contract situations involving Tatum and White that need to be addressed but it’s possible and even likely the Celtics reach extensions with both players, including a deal that will make Tatum one of the highest-paid players in the league.
If Boston wins the title this season, Brown, Holiday and Tatum are potential Finals MVP picks.
Stevens operates behind the scenes. You don’t see him often at playoffs games except from the suite in which we watches the game.
But Myers is right. Stevens is an MVP, too
BOSTON (WHDH) – A pedestrian was hit and killed in Roxbury Thursday morning.
The collision occurred just before 8:20 a.m. on Tremont Street.
Police said Tremont Street was closed in both directions between Brigham Circle and Roxbury Crossing.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
A 96-year-old Boston woman received the surprise of a lifetime when she discovered the French men’s national soccer team had become her neighbors at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Back Bay.
Shirley, a beloved resident of the neighborhood, said she had no idea she would end up meeting the players in town for the World Cup.
“They’re my buddies,” she said with a laugh.
Her caretaker, Samia, said Shirley has become well known around Back Bay.
“Anyone outside, when we are walking, people come to her and want to talk to her,” Samia said.
The U.S. is out of the World Cup. Fellow co-hosts Mexico and Canada are too. So who should
The excitement around the hotel grew after the French team arrived to stay there during the tournament.
Shirley said the encounter happened unexpectedly while she was eating lunch.
“I was having lunch and they came over, and since then, it’s been wonderful to have them here,” she said.
Shirley said team representatives soon invited her to meet the players.
“And they said, ‘He would like to meet you.’ I said, ‘I’m glad to meet anybody,’” she recalled.
For this Massachusetts teenager, attending a World Cup match was more than a dream come true, it was a milestone in a journey that began when he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma — something that might not have happened if he hadn’t been playing soccer.
After the visit, Shirley recorded a cellphone video sharing her excitement.
“This is absolutely — I cannot tell you how unbelievably fabulous this is,” she said.
The meeting ended with a memorable gift: A jersey from French star Kylian Mbappé.
The team also made her a promise.
“[They] told me that if they win, he will sign it, and then it will be worth a lot of money,” she said, laughing.
Samia, who is from Algeria, quickly agreed. She said she was already a devoted supporter of the French squad after spending many years living in France.
“I’m so excited. I went to Philadelphia to watch the game this past weekend. So, believe me, I’m totally 100% with them. I wanted them to go back to France with a cup,” she said.
Shirley said she never expected to become a fan, but she appreciated the sense of community the tournament brought to her neighborhood.
“It’s good to see such camaraderie happening, with people here getting along. Yeah, it’s the greatest thing,” she said.
She said she still did not know why the team wanted to meet her, but she’s grateful nonetheless. Shirley remains hopeful her new friends would keep winning, and keep returning to Boston.
Local News
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Wednesday that the city is suing social media companies — including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube — over their alleged deliberate targeting of minors with addictive features.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Boston Public Schools in federal court in California, will be consolidated with more than 1,500 similar complaints from school districts around the country, Wu’s office said.
The lawsuit seeks to force the companies to remove addictive features and compensate the city for the mental health support needed by students. It alleges the companies designed addictive features specifically to keep young people engaged. These features include endless scrolling, frequent notifications, and personalized algorithms, city officials said.
In a statement, Wu said that these companies have evidence of the harm they are causing to children.
“Boston is taking legal action to protect children and youth and hold these companies accountable. Today, we are making it clear that social media companies must end exploitative practices and be accountable to standards of basic protection for children,” she said.
The move comes as more Massachusetts politicians look to rein in social media companies. The state’s House of Representatives passed a bill in April that would implement a phone ban in schools and prohibit children 14 and younger from using social media. Gov. Maura Healey followed that up by introducing legislation that would require social media companies to verify users’ ages and limit the ways in which minors are exposed to potentially addictive design features.
Just last week, the state Senate unveiled legislation that would require social media companies to automatically disable these types of features for minors.
BPS officials say that they have seen a “significant increase” in social media-fueled mental health needs over the past decade. They cited data from the Boston Public Health Commission that shows the impact on high school students. In 2015, just 26.7% of Boston public high school students reported “persistent sadness.” By 2021, that figure had risen to 43.9%.
The district says it has responded by “exponentially” expanding mental health resources. In 2007, there were six social workers and 48 school psychologists employed in the BPS system. The district now has 240 social workers and 105 school psychologists, officials said.
“We work hard to set our students on the best course for success through rigorous academics and whole-student supports, and the research is clear that social media has had a negative impact on students’ well-being while benefiting companies. We all need to do what is right for our students,” Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a statement.
In March, a jury in California found that Meta and YouTube are liable for intentionally designing addictive features and that executives failed to protect young users.
In May, Meta and other social media companies settled a lawsuit brought by a Kentucky school district in a bellwether case.
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