Kyrie Irving: Celtics Have 'Blind Faith in Each Other' After Sweep of Pacers

The Boston Celtics had an up-and-down regular season but have apparently found "blind faith in each other" following their four-game sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

"I'm happy that we're all just diving into it, having a blind faith in each other," Kyrie Irving said after Sunday's 110-106 victory in Game 4, per Jay King of The Athletic.

"You can obviously take some momentum going into it and be proud of the performance you put on, but a week later it doesn't even matter," he said, per King. "So you've gotta prove it once again."

Irving needed to trust his teammates in Sunday's contest because he struggled to find his touch from the field with 14 points on just 4-of-13 shooting and 0-of-4 from three-point range. It was a different individual story than when he notched a double-double in Game 3, poured in 37 points in Game 2 and notched 20 points in Game 1.

Seven Celtics in all scored in double figures in Sunday's balanced effort, including Gordon Hayward (20 points), Jayson Tatum (18 points) and Marcus Morris (18 points).

It was the exact type of balance the talented Celtics are going to need if they are going to be the first Eastern Conference team to reach the NBA Finals in the post-LeBron James era after the King reached the Finals eight straight years.

Their road will be much more difficult in the coming series against the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks and perhaps Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors than it was against a Pacers squad playing without Victor Oladipo.

That Irving is talking about trust between teammates is also notable given his temperament and comments were major storylines during the regular season. He even apologized for the way he dealt with the media and looming free-agency questions back in March.

Despite that existing tension, Al Horford credited Irving with helping bring the team together during a long plane trip in March, per Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston: "Kyrie was instrumental because he was the one that initiated everything as far as being like, 'Hey, let's have conversations, let's play cards, let's do this, let's do that' on this plane ride. And we were all engaged at that point."

That plane ride must have paid dividends because the Celtics looked like a confident title contender during their sweep of the Pacers.