Kyrie Irving Mum On Lack Of Foul Call On Celtics' Final Possession: 'I Love My Money'

BOSTON (CBS) -- It's been a frustrating couple of days for Kyrie Irving. He expressed some frustration with the media on Wednesday for speculation and dissection of a hallway conversation with Kevin Durant before the All-Star Game. And on Thursday, entering the final seconds of the Celtics' game in Milwaukee, he had hit just nine of his 26 shots on the evening.

But he and the Celtics had a chance to wipe away all of that frustration, after a 24-second violation gave possession to the Celtics in a one-point game with 3.5 seconds left.

The initial inbounds play didn't work, because Khris Middleton grabbed Marcus Morris and prevented his cut to the basket. So the inbounds pass instead went to Kyrie Irving, who drove to the basket and threw up a last-second shot while getting bumped by Eric Bledsoe. The shot didn't fall, the Celtics lost, and Irving was of course asked after the game whether or not he believed he was fouled.

"Uh, I ain't ... " Irving initially answered when asked if he felt like he got fouled.

Rather than share his opinion and risk getting hit with a hefty fine, Irving simply said, "I love my money."

It's worth noting that Sixers big man Joel Embiid was fined $25,000 last week for saying "These referees [bleeping] sucked" after a loss to the Celtics.

Irving explained the final play, saying he was originally just trying to set a screen to spring Morris free. When that didn't work, he had to improvise to try to score the game-winner.

"I tried to set a good screen for Mook. I don't know if he got fouled or not. I don't know what happened," Irving said. "And then I had 3.5 [seconds] and I tried to make the best play."

Morris, who immediately complained to the referees after the final play, was most certainly fouled. And though Irving didn't offer up any officiating critiques, Marcus Smart was not afraid to do so.

"The plan was actually to go to Morris first," said Smart, who was the inbounder on the play, per Brian Robb. "We knew Kyrie was going to set a great screen. They haven't left Kyrie all night. And, you know, I'm looking at Morris. I see Morris go down. Gets held. I see him go down. Nothing. We went to the second option."

It was certainly a worthy complaint, but of course, had the Celtics shot better than 38.2 percent from the field on the evening (and just 40.3 percent on non-threes), the final possession likely would not have mattered much at all.

As a result, the Celtics dropped to 7.5 games back of the Bucks in the East, and the C's are now in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

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• Boston Celtics
• Kyrie Irving
• NBA
• Milwaukee Bucks