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C's Focused on the Process During Western Swing
by bobheckler Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:58 pm
http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar/prac-20170304-celtics-focused-on-the-process-during-western-swing?sf60195247=1
C's Focused on the Process During Western Swing
Posted: Mar 04, 2017
By Marc D'Amico | @Marc_DAmico
Celtics.com
March 4, 2017
PHOENIX – The Celtics began a five-game, West Coast road trip Friday night that includes matchups with two presumed title contenders and their most hated rival. But they aren’t looking at it from that sort of big-picture perspective. Instead, they’re concentrating on today.
If there’s one thing Brad Stevens has engrained in his players’ minds, it’s that they must focus on the process of improving. The process of improving hinges upon taking each day as it comes, and capitalizing on each day as an opportunity to improve.
Ask the Celtics about their overarching goals heading into this monster of a road trip, and you’ll get an answer that drips of the process.
“We’ve just got to take it game-by-game and day-by-day and see where we’re at,” Isaiah Thomas said before Saturday’s practice in Phoenix as he replied to a question about the team’s goals for the trip.
Pressed further on the issue, Thomas held strong to his sentiment.
“You just try to take it game-by-game,” he politely replied while repeating his stance. “You don’t want to get too far ahead or worry about what’s happened in the past. You just want to take it one game at a time.”
Across the gym, about 75 feet away and about five minutes earlier, Jae Crowder gave a very similar response after being asked the same question.
“We just take it one game at a time,” said Crowder, who tallied 14 points and six rebounds Friday night in LA. “The first game was against the Lakers last night and we took care of business, and now we’re focused on Phoenix.”
Crowder did let his mind slip briefly, saying, “Of course you want to win all five of them, but you’ve got to leave here with a winning record.” It was clear, however, that he and his teammates are concentrating on the process of improving day-by-day and letting the results take care of themselves.
Today, Boston’s opportunity to improve arrives via the practice court, where they came together for a brief session before Sunday’s early tip-off at 3 p.m. local time in Phoenix.
Before the team took the court, Stevens gave his perspective on the process and why it is critical to a team’s success.
“The one thing about just being focused on the process and being focused on day-by-day improvement is, it doesn’t matter what happened yesterday,” he said. “It’s about getting better today. It’s about taking the two or three things you really need to work on and trying to improve that.”
Stevens then commented on why focusing on the previous day, or the following day, could be a hindrance.
“Basketball is not a perfect game,” he said. “You’re not going to play perfect. You’re not going to play the same way every day. But you’ve just got to hopefully build good habits as you move forward through a season and hopefully build and grow as a team.”
Does that sound like “coach’s talk”? Absolutely. But it’s the mindset of the Boston Celtics, and it’s the foundation of their success.
Boston is 40-22 this season, good for the fifth-best record in the NBA. It just dominated the Lakers in Los Angeles, and it will attempt to do the same to the Suns Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.
For now, though, it’s all about Saturday, and Saturday is about getting better on the practice court.
bob
MY NOTE: When KG came here in the summer of 2007 he changed the mindset completely and we all know how that turned out. What we are hearing here from Thomas and Jae and Brown and everybody else on the roster is pure Brad Stevens, pure focus on the little details and don't look down the road. We are seeing the results and they look really good. Sam Hinkie had his Process, this is Brad Stevens'. Has Danny swung and missed a few times on draft picks? Sure, they all do, it isn't even close to a science, but he hit a grand slam when he convinced Brad Stevens to do something he thought he would never do and that is to leave Butler. What a coup! Billy Donovan has the head coaching job in OKC because of this, Brad's successful transition to the pros reversed a longstanding trend (another good reason to be wary of using historical stats to predict the future).
.
C's Focused on the Process During Western Swing
Posted: Mar 04, 2017
By Marc D'Amico | @Marc_DAmico
Celtics.com
March 4, 2017
PHOENIX – The Celtics began a five-game, West Coast road trip Friday night that includes matchups with two presumed title contenders and their most hated rival. But they aren’t looking at it from that sort of big-picture perspective. Instead, they’re concentrating on today.
If there’s one thing Brad Stevens has engrained in his players’ minds, it’s that they must focus on the process of improving. The process of improving hinges upon taking each day as it comes, and capitalizing on each day as an opportunity to improve.
Ask the Celtics about their overarching goals heading into this monster of a road trip, and you’ll get an answer that drips of the process.
“We’ve just got to take it game-by-game and day-by-day and see where we’re at,” Isaiah Thomas said before Saturday’s practice in Phoenix as he replied to a question about the team’s goals for the trip.
Pressed further on the issue, Thomas held strong to his sentiment.
“You just try to take it game-by-game,” he politely replied while repeating his stance. “You don’t want to get too far ahead or worry about what’s happened in the past. You just want to take it one game at a time.”
Across the gym, about 75 feet away and about five minutes earlier, Jae Crowder gave a very similar response after being asked the same question.
“We just take it one game at a time,” said Crowder, who tallied 14 points and six rebounds Friday night in LA. “The first game was against the Lakers last night and we took care of business, and now we’re focused on Phoenix.”
Crowder did let his mind slip briefly, saying, “Of course you want to win all five of them, but you’ve got to leave here with a winning record.” It was clear, however, that he and his teammates are concentrating on the process of improving day-by-day and letting the results take care of themselves.
Today, Boston’s opportunity to improve arrives via the practice court, where they came together for a brief session before Sunday’s early tip-off at 3 p.m. local time in Phoenix.
Before the team took the court, Stevens gave his perspective on the process and why it is critical to a team’s success.
“The one thing about just being focused on the process and being focused on day-by-day improvement is, it doesn’t matter what happened yesterday,” he said. “It’s about getting better today. It’s about taking the two or three things you really need to work on and trying to improve that.”
Stevens then commented on why focusing on the previous day, or the following day, could be a hindrance.
“Basketball is not a perfect game,” he said. “You’re not going to play perfect. You’re not going to play the same way every day. But you’ve just got to hopefully build good habits as you move forward through a season and hopefully build and grow as a team.”
Does that sound like “coach’s talk”? Absolutely. But it’s the mindset of the Boston Celtics, and it’s the foundation of their success.
Boston is 40-22 this season, good for the fifth-best record in the NBA. It just dominated the Lakers in Los Angeles, and it will attempt to do the same to the Suns Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.
For now, though, it’s all about Saturday, and Saturday is about getting better on the practice court.
bob
MY NOTE: When KG came here in the summer of 2007 he changed the mindset completely and we all know how that turned out. What we are hearing here from Thomas and Jae and Brown and everybody else on the roster is pure Brad Stevens, pure focus on the little details and don't look down the road. We are seeing the results and they look really good. Sam Hinkie had his Process, this is Brad Stevens'. Has Danny swung and missed a few times on draft picks? Sure, they all do, it isn't even close to a science, but he hit a grand slam when he convinced Brad Stevens to do something he thought he would never do and that is to leave Butler. What a coup! Billy Donovan has the head coaching job in OKC because of this, Brad's successful transition to the pros reversed a longstanding trend (another good reason to be wary of using historical stats to predict the future).
.
bobheckler- Posts : 61563
Join date : 2009-10-28
Re: C's Focused on the Process During Western Swing
by wideclyde Sun Mar 05, 2017 10:35 am
This approach of "taking one game at a time" is certainly not new to sports as D'Amico might like us to believe. Every good team thinks and tries to play this way late in every season where the poor teams are thinking of every game as one game closer to vacation.
This is not written to say that Stevens has done a great job since arriving in Boston, but rather to say that all good coaches and teams think in the same manner.
This is not written to say that Stevens has done a great job since arriving in Boston, but rather to say that all good coaches and teams think in the same manner.
wideclyde- Posts : 2390
Join date : 2015-12-14
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