Can Brad Stevens fix all that ails the Celtics?

Can Brad Stevens fix all that ails the Celtics?

NBC SPORTS BOSTON By Chris Forsberg February 11, 2019 12:30 AM

Maybe Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens could sense the frustration in his team’s locker room following Saturday’s embarrassing loss to the Los Angeles Clippers because, before the room opened to reporters, Stevens did all he could to direct the criticism for his team’s 28-point collapse to himself.

"I think I need to look at myself first and figure out what I can do to help [Boston giving away big leads] not happen,” said Stevens, whose team fumbled away double-digit leads in consecutive games with disappointing losses to both Los Angeles teams. "If that means we need to play different rotations, call different things, start differently in quarters than we are, whatever the case may be, there’s an answer out there and we just have to find it.”

Where should Stevens start his search for answers? A few thoughts:

GET SOME MORE JUICE

Stevens noted how Boston’s defense in the middle quarters has been bad all season, particularly compared to the first and fourth quarters. He wondered out loud if he has to manage those minutes better, hinting as possible rotation tweaks.

A look at what Stevens is referring to:

Celtics defensive rating by quarter (with league rank):
1st          99.2 (1st)
2nd        109.3 (13th)
3rd        109.5 (15th)
4th        104.5 (4th)
Total     105.5 (5th)

The second-quarter woes can be explained a way, in part, due to the the way Boston leans on reserve-heavy units early in the second frame. The Celtics’ bench players have struggled with consistency this year, explaining some of the slippage. The third-quarter struggles are a bit more confounding, particularly given how good Boston’s starters have been at the start and end of games.

The starting 5 that Boston has had in place since Nov. 26, the day Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart shuffled into starting roles, has been one of the best five-man groups in the NBA this season. Among the 23 high-volume lineups with 250+ minutes of floor time this season, Boston’s starting 5 ranks eighth in the NBA with a net rating of plus-11.9.

Slightly more concerning is that Boston’s starting group has a net rating of minus-2.4 over the past five games, a big dropoff from the numbers that had them lingering next to Golden State’s most-common 5-man lineup before diving a bit recently.

Morris went so far as to suggest that the team could shuffle him to a reserve role if it would help.

"We have to genuinely want to win, that has to be the first goal, whatever that change is, I’m with it,” said Morris. "They want to take me out of the starting lineup, get some juice in there, I’m with it, man. But I’m trying to win.”

Morris might have been suggesting that it was time for Jaylen Brown, whose nicknames include Juice, to elevate back to the starting group.

A better compromise for Stevens might be sticking with the current starting group but examining whether the team needs to tweak lineups at the start of the second half. Stevens often modified his lineups to open the second half in past seasons while searching for certain matchups, advantages, or just a jolt of energy.

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TIME(OUT) FOR A CHANGE

Stevens is a card-carrying member of the Gregg Popovich Early Timeout Fan Club. Stevens routinely calls timeouts early in quarters when his team’s execution or focus is suspect. It feels like there’s been an awful lot of early third-quarter timeouts this season, including one just 2:02 into second half on Saturday night after the Clippers chipped a 21-point halftime deficit to 17.

But Stevens noticeably didn’t call a timeout the rest of the third quarter Saturday as Boston’s lead whittled to 5. His next timeout didn’t come until there was 3:19 remaining and Boston had fallen behind by 4.

"My err is always on the side of letting us play through it and having to find ways, so you can save those going into the fourth [quarter],” said Stevens. “Ultimately, maybe that’s one of the things I need to do differently with this group. Maybe that’ll help.”

Stevens has often noted how his team needs to be better able to able to stem runs, pointing out the differences between an 11-0 run and, say, a 9-4 burst.

Stevens likes to stash timeouts for crunch time but he might have to be more willing to call timeout when runs get uncomfortable, regardless of when they happen. Simply being able to draw up a play might help his team stunt a run.

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COACHING THROUGH EXPECTATIONS

Stevens hasn’t been perfect this season and he’d be the first to admit it. But his biggest challenge might be right in front of him now, and it might not be as easy to fix as a rotation change.

On the heels of Morris’ comments about a joyless team, Stevens has to make sure his team rallies in the aftermath of the critique, and doesn’t crumble.

Clearly, the Celtics have struggled with the burden of expectations this season. The team’s identity for much of the Stevens era has been a spunky bunch of overachievers who spit in the face of adversity and play their best basketball when everyone else counts them out.

This year’s team hasn’t routinely displayed the sort of mental toughness that past teams routinely oozed. The uneven start to the season led to frustrations (Marcus Smart venting in Portland) and some finger-pointing (Kyrie Irving calling out the younger players in Orlando, then admitting his missteps as a leader in the aftermath). It’s all contributed to a weird dynamic in the Celtics’ locker room this year, one in which it feels like Boston younger players might be walking on eggshells at times. The speculation about Irving’s future and Boston’s not-so-subtle planned pursuit of Anthony Davis this summer has maybe only added some awkwardness to it all.

Stevens’ challenge now is getting his players to simply focus on playing basketball. As frustrating as the last two games have been, the Celtics were rolling before that, sandwiching two five-game winning streaks around a competitive loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The Celtics need to get past their lingering issues and simply embrace the championship pursuit. This team is clearly capable of competing with the league’s elite, but Boston has put itself in a tough position by playing down to lesser competition and letting their issues fester this far into the season.

While Stevens and the Celtics have had minor issues in past seasons, this simply feels like a key moment for this year’s group. How the Celtics respond could dictate just how the rest of the season plays out. Stevens has to get his players to rally around the notion of just playing basketball and leaving all the other drama and distractions behind them.

Stevens has to help his team find the joy that Morris says has been fleeting this season.

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In another article in the Boston Globe by Adam Himmelsbach he points out the worst defensive pairings are Al GH and Morris, when those 3 are on the floor together, the defense is terrible....it is especially bad with Morris and Al and Morris and GH. It’s been noted Morris is not a traditional 4 and in the recent collapse, it’s been the defense, not the offense that has been the main problem. If I’m the coach I start Jaylen over Morris to kick start the defense. This will improve our perimeter defense as a lot of teams have been killing us from the 3 recently.

I'm with you on that Cow.

When Brad moved Smart and Morris from the bench to the starting unit, the results were somewhat astounding.  Most fans were tickled pink then and many said, "what took you so long?"

Now it seems like it is time to move Morris back to the bench, at least in the minds of the fans.  We fans love second-guessing coach Brad Stevens.  (LOL)

Maybe there was more to the prior success than just inserting Smart and Morris to the starting unit.  Maybe we had a healthy Aron Baynes to prowl the paint?  Maybe Morris wasn't nursing a bum knee at the time.  Maybe the unreported dings and dents of other players are affecting recent results.

I'm guessing that there is more here than meets the eye.  I can get lost in the moment as much as the next fan, but upon reflection, I think I will DWSWD.

See you in April.

The Celtics are 68% through the season and we are still discussing rotations.  Who starts, who comes off the bench.

Some of our veterans criticize our young players even though our run to the EC finals last year was anchored by Brown, Tatum and Rozier.  

I do not like all the yapping behind the scenes.  

Brad has to figure out how to keep this team together.  That is hard to do when the biggest yappers on the team are veterans.  

I thought that with all the comments that have been made the most sense to me was from Jaylen Brown  

“We’ve just got to have each other’s backs at the end of the day. We can’t make comments, we can’t point fingers.”– Jan. 14. Jaylen Brown, noting that the airing of public grievances isn’t productive in response to Irving’s remarks in Orlando, asks for unity. Brown also says, “It starts from the top to the bottom. Not from the bottom to the top but the top to the bottom.”

When Brad changed up the starting lineup back in November I said that things could change again and I still believe that.  But the lineup has little to do with losing games.  You have to play the right way at both ends if you are a starter or a rotation guy.  

I however remain adamantly opposed to GH coming off the bench in a 6th man role.  He is still in a recovery mode.  Looks good one game and terrible the next.  We need consistency from that 6th man role.

gyso wrote: I think I will DWSWD.

See you in April.

Seems like a good idea.