C’s Irving injures eye chasing rebound vs. Spurs
SAN ANTONIO — Kyrie Irving dressed alone in the visitors’ locker room after the Boston Celtics‘ 120-111 loss Monday to the San Antonio Spurs, squinting his eyes after suffering what he called a scratched left cornea in the fourth quarter.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens wasn’t sure whether the injury could force Irving to miss time.
“Kyrie has a scratched eye,” Stevens said. “So he’ll have antibiotics for that. I don’t know what that means beyond tonight.”
Irving, meanwhile, addressed the media after the game wearing a pair of sunglasses.
Asked about his condition, Irving said: “I’m wearing sunglasses, so not too good. I’ll be all right, though. [He] smacked the s— out of me. He just caught me pretty good.”
Irving suffered the injury in the fourth quarter as he and Spurs guard Marco Belinelli attempted to secure a rebound of Irving’s missed 28-foot attempt. Belinelli swiped at the ball and hit Irving in the eye, causing the Celtics guard to stay down on the floor for a short time writhing in pain.
Irving briefly left the game with 7:22 left to play, but he returned to the floor with 4:37 remaining and managed to score two points down the stretch in addition to logging a steal.
Irving finished with 16 point and eight assists. Boston surrendered 46 points in the third quarter — the most it had given up in a quarter since Feb. 8, 2000.
“It’s just frustrating when you give up 46 points in the third quarter,” Irving said. “We’re just getting killed on the boards right now.”
An eighth-year veteran, Irving is averaging 23.3 points, 5 rebounds and 6.6 assists. Irving has produced eight assists in three consecutive games.