ON A COLD, February night in Chicago, a cluster of reporters gathered around Kyrie Irving, backing him up against a white board in the visitors locker room of the United Center. Minutes earlier, the Boston Celtics had stooped to a new low in their vexing season, suffering a dispirited loss to the lowly Chicago Bulls.
Irving, an Uncle Drew cap jammed low over his brow, was asked to gauge his level of concern regarding the team's long-term prognosis.
"It'll be fine," he answered in a monotone cadence, a vast departure from emotional responses he'd provided as recently as a week before.