Terry Rozier and the Boston Celtics played down Kyrie Irving's criticism of the NBA hopefuls.
Irving told reporters the Celtics did not understand what it takes to be a championship-level team following a defeat on Saturday.
On Monday, Celtics star Irving said he would never call out his team-mates publicly again, but Boston have not disputed anything he said.
"Kyrie said a lot after the last game and it was probably stuff that people didn't want to hear," Rozier told Yahoo. "But it's showing."
Rozier continued: "I feel like we have them talks throughout the season, but it didn't turn out that good. You see guys get into it with each other, but that's part of the game. You gotta be real with each other."
Rozier said Irving's talk was needed, and Boston tea-mate Jayson Tatum agreed.
"It's the truth," Tatum told Yahoo. "He knows what it takes to win a championship and most of us don't. Sometimes you have to be brutally honest in this profession to get the best out of one another. It came from a good place."
The Celtics have had their fair share of problems and seemingly everyone has a reason for why.
"I don't think we've all been on a team like this," Rozier said. "Young guys who can play, guys who did things in their career, the group that was together last year, then you bring Kyrie and [Gordon] Hayward back, it's a lot with it."
When asked if the team might almost be too talented, Rozier answered: "Too talented, yeah. Too talented."
Boston (25-18) have lost three games in a row (after winning their previous four)t o drop to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings.
