Marcus Smart strongly disputed the notion from some members of the media who have tried to blame the shortcomings of the Boston Celtics on the leadership of Kyrie Irving.

"Bulls---. That's bulls---," Smart said when asked Thursday if Irving's leadership skills were behind the Celtics' lack of chemistry. "Not one of us on this team knows what Kyrie has been through. Probably a few amount of people in this world know what Kyrie goes through. It was hard for him as well.

"He was forced into a situation where it was business over the friendships. He had to come into a situation knowing this is a group of guys that had something going before [he came] here. 'How will I fit in?' He didn't want to disrupt that. That says a lot. This is Kyrie Irving we're talking about it, and he's worried about coming in and disrupting us. We took him in with full arms. We tried to understand. But like I said, we never really understood because we're not in his shoes. That's just a bulls--- statement to say his leadership skills killed us."