Kyrie Irving’s first game while wearing a protective mask this season went pretty well.
The point guard, who’s recovering from facial fractures after withstanding an elbow from teammate Aron Baynes, put up 25 points and five assists on 8-of-20 shooting in the Boston Celtics’ Tuesday night victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Though he wasn’t especially accurate, the mask didn’t seem to deter him from staging his usual amount of epic dribble drives. Plus, he did manage to convert a tidy two of his five three-point attempts.
As he walked off the court, Irving was asked how much he hated the mask, to which he demurred. He clearly doesn’t like it, but he didn’t crap on it either.
Later, though, he was asked by a reporter how his face was doing. And his response was equal parts simple and epic, per Brian Robb of the Boston Sports Journal:
Reporter to Kyrie: "How's your face feeling?"
Kyrie: "It's broken."
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) November 15, 2017
I mean…he’s not lying. It is broken. It’s a weird thing to write, and it sounds even weirder that he would be playing with such an injury. But it’s the truth. And players slog through this type of injury all the time. The protective masks, while perhaps annoying as well, clearly do their job.
Irving, in fact, was hit a few times, once while chasing a loose ball on the floor. He shook off each and every instance of contact. So, um, woo-hoo!
Now we get to see whether this getup can hold strong against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. Rumor has it that facing off with them is a little different than going toe-to-toe with Nets. He should probably watch out for the occasional rogue elbow from Draymond Green or Zaza Pachulia or maybe even an in-his-feelings Nick Young.
