The Boston Celtics lost two games in Florida this week that both included on-court disagreements between teammates.
On Thursday, it was Marcus Morris shoving Jaylen Brown during a timeout in a loss to the Miami Heat. On Saturday, it was Kyrie Irving barking at Gordon Hayward after a failed final possession in a defeat to the Orlando Magic.
- FORSBERG: Kyrie demands more from young Celtics
So, were those incidents one-off moments of frustration or part of a bigger issue?
Chris Mannix believes it could be the latter. On NBC Sports Boston's postgame show Saturday night, Mannix explained how postgame comments from Al Horford and Kyrie Irving suggest there could be a divide between the Celtics' young players and veterans.
If you couple those comments that Kyrie Irving just made with what we heard earlier from Al Horford, it sure sounds pretty targeted toward the young players on this team. And Kyrie said as much. The youth of this team, that they haven’t experienced this before. They don’t know, they don’t have that sense of urgency that you need to have.
It does seem like there’s a divide in that locker room between the veterans on that team and the younger players on that team. I don’t know how big that divide is, how significant it is, is it fractured. But there does seem to be kind of a chasm that exists between those two sides.
The C's have struggled to find cohesion this season, as they're currently fifth in the Eastern Conference despite a deep, talented roster. Part of those struggles could be attributed to growing pains as players adapt to new roles.
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Then again, winning cures all, and Boston still has 40 games left in the regular season to come together as a group.
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