After hearing the devastating news that Celtics' All Star guard Kyrie Irving would miss the remainder of the 2018 season, the organisation could be forgiven for having a forlorn outlook on their playoff hopes.Irving's influence on the court has been astronomical in his first season in Boston, particularly in Gordon Hayward's absence, averaging 24.4 points, 5.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds on 49.1% shooting over 60 games. However, GM Danny Ainge is refusing to give up on their chances of winning a title despite Irving's injury. 

The cerebral GM, who pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal to bring Irving to Boston last summer, is confident the team will fight hard and believes they can still compete with the best teams in the league without their star PG. 

“We’re not giving up on this,”  Ainge told the Boston Herald. “Absolutely not.

“We’ve competed with the best teams in the league with all the injuries we’ve had to Marcus (Smart) and Kyrie and Gordon Hayward and Daniel Theis. We beat a hungry Oklahoma City team. We beat Portland on their home court. We beat Utah, who’s one of the hottest teams in the league fighting for their lives, on their home court. We beat Toronto last Saturday." he added.

“We’ve played some fantastic basketball in spite of the challenges that we’ve had from a physical standpoint. So I like watching these guys play, and they’re going to fight.”.

The Celtics have faced injury adversity since the opening day of the season, when All Star forward Gordon Hayward was ruled out for the year with a horrific ankle injury suffered against the Cavs. 

Ainge referred to the fact that the team only got stronger after that blow, and that he expects their young core of talent to do the same thing again after learning their best player will miss the rest of the year. 

“We didn’t give up then, and we haven’t done that now since Kyrie’s been hurt either,” Ainge said.

In reality, it's also an opportunity for players to step up and gain valuable playoff experience that will certainly be useful in the future. 

Ainge was excited about the chance to see Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin, who will likely share the majority of Irving's workload, play significant postseason minutes.

“...I’m excited about the playoffs. I really am. Like, Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin, this is their opportunity. And Jaylen (Brown) and Jayson (Tatum) and Marcus Morris and (Al) Horford and (Aron) Baynes and Greg Monroe, I mean, the whole group. These guys are looking forward to playing in the playoffs...The experience that they’re getting right now and going into the playoffs is huge, no doubt about it,” the 59-year-old said.

The road ahead is certainly more challenging without Irving, and his prodigious offensive talent, but the young Celtics' sound like they will be more motivated than ever to prove their doubters wrong and make an unlikely run deep into the postseason. 

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