Irving: Celtics held 'much-needed' team meeting amid 'selfish' play

A 120-107 defeat at the hands of the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night was apparently eye-opening for the Boston Celtics, who are now in the midst of a three-game losing streak after winning eight in a row.

The Celtics locker room took longer than usual to open to the media afterward, which was the result of the team holding an impromptu meeting to chat about its current issues.

"Much needed; much needed you know," Kyrie Irving said, according to NBC Sports' A. Sherrod Blakely. "I think everyone can see that we've had some inconsistencies regarding our play. I think it was the time to address it."

Irving finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in 39 minutes of action against Milwaukee, but converted just 7-of-20 from the field for his 12th outing of the season with 20 or more shot attempts.

The five-time All-Star said that there's been some "selfish play" among his teammates, although he's just as guilty of getting caught up playing isolation basketball.

"I'll be the first to admit I've dealt with my own challenges to be more consistent in the defensive end, do things for myself that would be more beneficial for our team. To be honest I'm not playing the minutes I would want, the role I would want, that I selfishly would want for myself," said Irving, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

"That all goes on the back burner to being patient with what I have to do to grow as a leader of this team and help these other young guys to be more prepared for what they'll encounter as they get older in this league and are going through right now. That's part of the deal that I have, as opposed to how many shots I get or how successful I am. It's how successful we are as a team."

The loss drops the Celtics to 18-13 on the season. They'll face the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday before hosting the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day.