Kyrie Irving. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- The Celtics are off Wednesday night. They'll visit the Timberwolves Thursday, likely once again without All-Star Kyrie Irving.
He missed Monday's win in Chicago with left knee soreness after Saturday's thriller in Houston.
"I wanna make sure I'm as healthy as possible," Irving said. "It's just at this point in the season, it's just about the big picture, so I'm just trying to stay smart and kind of get out of my own way and, when it feels good, get back out there."
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So then, is this more about maintenance than a significant concern?
"It's been about two years coming off knee surgery," he said. "You have to do things like that, and just stay on top of it, and just make sure you're doing the right thing. Sometimes it may be a little bit extra, just from demand you put on your body, and then also the realization of how much basketball you've actually been playing for the last few years."
"The level at which you demand your body play, it's just part of the game," he continued. "I think that's the luxury of being in the regular season and having time to where you can kind of put yourself first and kind of take care of yourself and go from there."
There are 17 games left in the regular season, then hopefully a deep playoff run.
Irving has a lot of minutes in front of him.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman reports