"People wanted to see us fail at this juncture... our names being dragged" - Kyrie Irving on finding motivation from embarrassing sweep against Celtics

Kyrie Irving could not save the Brooklyn Nets' season. Irving put up 20 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Nets lost Game 4 of their first-round playoff series to the Boston Celtics. The 112-116 result on Monday at Barclays Center meant that the Nets were the first team to get eliminated in the 2022 postseason.

With the four-game sweep, the Nets ended their season on an underwhelming note. This was a sentiment echoed by Kyrie Irving in his post-game media interaction. He told reporters about the emotions he experienced now that their 2021-22 campaign has come to a close:

"Disappointment, a little sadness because we didn't play as well as a team as we wanted to. You can throw all the things that happened in the season, just heavy emotionally. Now that the series is done, we can congratulate the Boston Celtics for doing what they were supposed to do, just closing out very mature, doing all the little things."

However, Irving is also using the first-round series defeat as motivation for the next NBA season. He told the media:

"On the positive side, motivation, burning in my heart right now. I know so many people wanted to see us fail at this juncture. Picked us as contenders and I have so much to say at this point. So I'm just using it as fuel for the summer and coming into the season, starting from October and just getting a good start as a team."

The seven-time All-Star concluded by saying:

"Hopefully, we don't run into any barriers and we can just start fresh and be realistic with our own expectations and live with our team results rather than be in the polarization of the media scrum, of having our names be dragged for a series that naturally happens with people's careers. It's definitely exciting to have this motivation going into the summer time now."

Game 1 form eluded Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving put up 39 points in Game 1 in what was clearly his best showing of the series versus Boston. Irving shot 60.0% from the field (12-of-20) and downtown (6-of-10) in that game, which Brooklyn lost by one point. Thereafter, the 30-year-old point guard struggled with his offense as he put up a combined 46 points for the Nets over the remainder of the series. Irving's shooting efficiency dropped to 37% (16-of-43) from the field over the last three games.