The Celtics ended their regular season with a 110-97 home win over the Nets in the final game, and they will take a break for the playoffs. And none of this has anything to do with Kyrie Irving, whose 2017-18 season has come to an early end since April 6, the day he confirmed his second knee surgery.

Looking back on the past half a year, Irving has gone from LeBron James's younger brother to the big boss of the Green Shirts, from 16 consecutive wins to a shocking victory, to a sad farewell due to injury. Either way, he has taken what is probably the most important step in his life, and the world of the future is still wide and sky.

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The eagle flapps its wings, and the sea and the sky are wide

On July 22 of last year, ESPN reporter Brian Weinhorst broke the shocking news: Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers' All-Star point guard, has requested a trade from the team, hoping to break away from LeBron James' wing and play in a place where he can be the focus. For a while, a thousand waves were stirred, and the entire NBA world was discussing related topics, and almost all 29 teams were also discussing the possibility of getting this talented guard.

In hindsight, Irving's desire to leave the Cavaliers and go on his own wasn't nowhere to be found, but it was still a shock given the tremendous success he's had with the team over the past four years. Later, under the competitive excavation of the media, the beginning and end of the incident were peeled off little by little, and people had a general understanding of Owen's mental journey:

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ESPN's follow-up report said that Irving is jealous of James' special treatment with the Cavaliers, and wants to be able to control the ball and use his talents to the fullest. Celebrity Stephen A. Smith also broke the news: Irving hates James for treating him like a child.

These statements have been basically verified from Owen's veiled answers in several later interviews. Although he has repeatedly denied that he left the Cavaliers because of James, in fact, all he wants to express is that he has no opinion on James as a person, but he still feels unhappy about playing under such a huge shadow.

In fact, Irving's idea is not very difficult to understand: he has already tasted the championship that many people dream of, and now he wants to see if he can reap the same success as a leader. As a young and vigorous genius in his 20s, it is too normal to have such thoughts.

When he initially requested a trade, Irving had four target teams: the Spurs, Knicks, Heat and Timberwolves. But then, the Celtics sent a sincere offer, and the main chips included All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas, the excellent "3D" Jay Crowder, and the 2018 Nets' first-round draft pick, which finally impressed the Cavaliers. And Irving, of course, is also willing to join this basketball giant with a glorious tradition and a fairly good lineup, and the three sides hit it off and quickly reached a deal.

However, there are many good things, and later because of Thomas Jr.'s hip injury, the deal was put on hold for a while, and it was not until the Celtics agreed to pay for another second-round pick, and it was finally officially completed. At this point, Irving left Cleveland, who had chosen him and gave him six years of unforgettable memories, to Boston. Here, a new chapter in life is ushered in.

Mature man, perfect leader

In the Celtics, Irving got the status of the team leader as he wished, so what is the actual effect? That's what everyone is most concerned about. After all, during his previous time with the Cavaliers, Irving has never been able to prove his ability to lead the team on his own, and if he can't achieve the expected results with the Celtics, then his bent desire to leave James will inevitably become a laughing stock for everyone.

To evaluate Irving's overall performance in the 2017-18 season, it is inseparable from the following three key words: "defense", "efficiency" and "leadership".

Let's start with defense. During his time with the Cavaliers, Irving conquered the world with his historic offensive talent, but on the defensive end, he has been criticized. Last season, Irving's individual defensive efficiency was 109.1, lower than Thomas Jr.'s 108.6, and Thomas Jr. is already recognized as a big defensive colander in the league.

Unlike Thomas Jr., Owen has a height of 1.91 meters, and his above-level athleticism has the basic conditions to play a good defense. It also turns out that if there is enough will and an ideal environment, Irving can defend well.

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In his first nine games for the Celtics, Irving made a total of 23 steals, averaging 2.56 per game, leading the league in steals at one point. Although after that, with the end of the honeymoon period, his steal stats returned to the world, but by the time he collapsed with a knee injury, he still had a defensive efficiency of 103.4. Compared to last season, it is a huge improvement.

In addition, several other high-level stats also prove Irving's improvement on the defensive end: this season, his defensive victory contribution is 2.7, compared to 1.5 last season, Irving's defensive true plus/minus this season is -0.6, compared to -2.3 last season, and Irving's opposing defense is 44.1% and 33.5% of three-point shooting percentages this season, compared to 46.3% and 36.7% last season.

From the perspective of the team's defensive performance, this season, the Celtics have conceded 101.6 points per 100 possessions after letting go of the two outside defensive cores, Avery Bradley and Crowder, and are still tied with the Jazz for the first place in the league. And before Irving's knee injury recurrence ended early on February 12, their defensive efficiency was only 101.4 points per 100 rounds, leading the way!

After talking about defense, let's look at the offense. When he left the Cavaliers last year, there was a saying that Irving wanted a central position, wanted the ball, and wanted to prove that he had what it took to tie the whole team together. But with the Celtics, Brad Stevens didn't try to transform Irving into a traditional point guard, but continued to play to the strengths of his individual offense, allowing him to play the role of a "scoring point guard." It's just that at key moments in the game, he was given more decision-making power.

This season, Irving is averaging 24.4 points and 5.1 assists per game, both of which are down from last season (25.2 points and 5.8 assists per game), but his PER has improved from 23 last season to 25, a new career high. How did he do it?

This is mainly due to the overall improvement of Irving's individual offensive efficiency. This season, he shot a career-high 49.1 percent from the field, and his previous best performance was 47.3 percent last season. Outside the three-point line, Irving averaged 6.8 shots per game and hit 2.8 shots, both career highs, while his 40.8 percent shooting percentage was the second-best of his career, behind only the 41.5 percent in 2014-15. Combined with his 88.9 percent free throw line performance, Irving is shooting 61 percent from the field this season, second only to Stephen Curry among all full-time starting point guards in the league.

In addition, Irving's career-high usage rate (31.1%) this season is a career-low 2.3 turnovers per game, forming a set of magical contrasts. It is precisely because of the above-mentioned multi-angle efficiency improvement that he was able to maintain sufficient firepower output despite the fact that his playing time dropped by almost 3 minutes from last year (from 35.1 minutes last season to 32.2 minutes this season).

Because of this efficiency, Irving has not only improved significantly in defensive high-level statistics, but his offensive true plus/minus has also increased dramatically this season, from 4.8 last season to 6.9 this season, and his combined true plus/minus has nearly quadrupled, from 2.5 to 6.3. Its irreplaceable value (VORP) has also been increased from 2.9 last season to 4.0.

Finally, let's talk about leadership. This season, the Celtics lost Gordon Hayward, one of the "Big Three", in the opening game, but still won 16 consecutive games at one point and ended up in second place in the East. One of the key factors is Owen's leadership role.

Let's take a look at Irving's personal contribution first: Irving's victory contribution value of 8.9 this season, 0.222 victory contribution value per 48 minutes, as well as the aforementioned true plus/minus and irreplaceable value, all rank first in the team.

In addition, when Irving is not on the court this season, the Celtics can only score 104.6 points per 100 possessions, which is roughly equivalent to the Pistons and Nets, ranking 20th in the league. And when Irving is on the floor, the Green Army can score 111.7 points per 100 possessions, which is second only to the Rockets and Warriors, and can be the third highest in the league. It's called: Practice.

Not only that, due to Hayward's accidental injury, the Celtics have used a large number of young players this season, and Irving, who is only 25 years old, has become a "veteran" who needs to teach his little brothers by word and deed, criticize when he should criticize, and encourage when he needs to encourage.

Jayson Tatum, who performed the most impressively among all the young people, also benefited the most because he also came from Duke University and had the best relationship with Irving. He once spoke in an interview about the impact Irving had on him. "From the first day he was here, he told me, 'No matter what's going on the field, I have faith in you.'" ”

Such an Owen is like a little brother under LeBron. Once, when Tyronn Lue advised him to speed up the game as much as possible so that his teammates would have more opportunities to shoot easily, he thought about "I can shoot at will without speeding up", as for how to make his teammates serve better? "That's the 23rd!"

And now, he's a full-fledged leader, a true superstar. Not only can you score in a dizzying way, but you can also lead your team to victory!

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Shake off injuries and make a comeback?

It's a pity that such a great Irving didn't make it to the end with the team. If he's there, even without Hayward, and even if Smart may not return until the division semifinals, the Celtics are still a dangerous opponent that no team would dare to take lightly. Marshal Stevens guaranteed their lower limit, and because of Owen, they had an infinite upper limit.

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But if it doesn't make sense, Irving missed the playoffs due to injury, which is a fact that can't be changed. It's clear that the Celtics are unlikely to reap the fruits of victory early this year, but at least in Irving, they see a promising future.

Owen's knee surgery, in the long run, is actually positive. When he broke the news of his sore knee just a few weeks ago, Celtics president Danny Ainge said in an interview: "Irving may have to deal with this problem for the rest of his career. "But after this operation, Owen should be able to completely put the pain behind him and ride the horse to his heart's content.

As we all know, Irving's left knee discomfort this time is the after-effect of the fracture of his left knee in the 2015 Finals. Because of the huge pull on the leg muscles, the leading doctor had to implant tension wires and screws in Owen's injury to help fix the broken kneecap. After that, Owen's kneecap gradually healed, but the "stabilizer" remained in his body.

The two most recent surgeries were to remove the wires and screws that had been implanted, because their presence had caused irritation and inflammation to Owen's body, which was the source of his recent series of injuries. The reason why the doctor dared to do this was based on the judgment that Owen had completely healed after a detailed examination of the bones and tissues that had been injured before. Therefore, from this point of view, this operation is a fundamental solution to Owen's knee injury and once and for all.

A year ago, Irving was a talented teenager and the perfect second in command for a championship team. A year later, Owen became a mature man and a brilliant leader. The future Irving, to use an old cliché, is the sky is his limit, and only injuries can stop him from moving forward.

So hopefully this surgery is just a small episode in Irving's basketball journey, and after the injury, may he make a comeback and reach new heights!