The Celtics aren’t tuning out Brad Stevens despite their struggles: 4 things we learned from Boston’s loss to the Hawks

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/02/the-celtics-arent-tuning-out-brad-stevens-despite-their-struggles-4-things-we-learned-from-bostons-loss-to-the-hawks.html



The Celtics aren’t tuning out Brad Stevens despite their struggles: 4 things we learned from Boston’s loss to the Hawks



Updated 6:00 AM; Today 6:00 AM



By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



Boston’s three-game road trip came to a ugly end on Wednesday night in Atlanta as the visitors allowed 127 points in the team’s worst defensive outing of the season. It was the third straight loss for Boston and 14th overall in their last 21 games, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of the locker room.

“As long as you’ve got that Celtics jersey on, you should never be comfortable with losing,” Jaylen Brown said. “I’m uncomfortable. It sucks for me personally. And we should all as a group just take the challenge.”

A closer look at four things we learned from Boston’s ugly defeat.

Jaylen Brown thinks the Celtics aren’t tuning out Brad Stevens: There has been a lot of criticism nationally about Boston’s long-time head coach in the midst of an ugly stretch of basketball for the Celtics. However, one of Boston’s All-Stars declared that the head coach still has the full attention of the locker room even after a lackluster effort in Atlanta.

“We listen to him,” Brown said. “Obviously game to game things change, but you’ve got to execute each and every night, and I think it’s been a challenge for this group to go from game to game with no time in between and execute the game plans. I can tell whatever the focus is, it’s not there. It’s not enough.”

A shorthanded roster amid injuries and COVID-19 cases has been a clear factor in Boston’s uneven play but Stevens knows he has to do better to help pull the best out of this team. He believes he has gotten that sense of urgency across to players some uninspiring play.

“I would say what I say to you and everyone else is not what I say in the locker room, necessarily,” Stevens said. “And how you say it is certainly very important, and I’ve had my moments. Let’s put it that way. That said, I think this team looks like, right now, it’s balancing playing unconfidently and unsure with the fact that we’ve had a couple that slipped away. Listen, none of us are happy with the job that we have done, and I should be first and foremost on that list with where we are.”

Jayson Tatum thinks he and his teammates need to be more accountable moving forward: Boston’s All-Star forward struggled through one of the worst shooting performances of his season (4-of-20 from the field, 1-of-8 from 3) and came down hard on himself after the dismal outing.

“We have to take some accountability,” he said. “I have to take accountability as one of the leaders and being that guy. I have to be better. I have to be more vocal. I have to kind of be the example, especially knowing that we lost two tough games, playing a back-to-back. I take a lot of accountability for just the way we played today, I guess and have been playing. We got four games till the break. Four very important games because I think the time is now. We don’t have much time, or we don’t have any time to relax. We’ve got to dig deep and we’ve got to figure it out.”

Tatum’s efficiency has dropped off considerably in the month of February after recovering from a bout of COVID-19. The All-Star is shooting just 41 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line, a sharp drop-off from his season numbers that have contributed to Boston’s underwhelming 5-9 record since Marcus Smart went down with a calf injury. Stevens has faith that this group can turn things around with Tatum leading the way after what he’s done in past seasons.

“We’re all stung and disappointed with how we’ve played,” Stevens admitted. “I think that’s affected the confidence of the group and instead of like fighting, scratching and clawing, we’ve had moments where we haven’t. And we have to get back to that. This team has it in them. I’ve been lucky enough to be there before with them and I know what they have in them. These next four games will tell us a lot about where we can go.”

The Celtics are in a road funk at the 3-point line: Boston faced three of the worst defenses in the NBA on this road trip and couldn’t find the bottom of the net consistently against any of the three on the perimeter. Those shooting woes continued on Wednesday night against the Hawks as Boston knocked down just 8-of-31 attempts beyond the arc (25.8 percent), with Danilo Gallinari (10-of-12 from 3) outshooting the visitors himself from long distance. It was the fourth straight road game that the Celtics shot 30 percent or less from 3-point range and it’s no coincidence that this team dropped all four of those contests. On the year, Boston is 0-12 when they shooting 33 percent or less from 3-point range, a troubling indicator for a team that relies so heavily on that shot on a nightly basis.

Boston’s stars still aren’t getting any rest: Despite the Celtics trailing by 20-plus points for nearly the entire second half, Jayson Tatum (32 minutes) and Jaylen Brown (29 minutes) played pretty close to their usual slate of minutes. Both All-Stars have been among the league leaders in minutes per game during the past month with injuries keeping Boston’s wing rotation shorthanded on a nightly basis. Tatum has averaged 36 minutes per night and Brown is close behind him with 35 and given the heavy offensive responsibility both guys are carrying in a jampacked schedule, it’s fair to wonder whether both players are starting to wear down a bit as they attempt to carry this team on a night in and night out basis.

Stevens clearly did not want to give the impression he was throwing in the towel on this game early after such an ugly first half effort. However, with so many limited off days on the schedule coming up, giving his key guys some extra rest in the second half may have helped the team more than watching both go through the motions late in a blowout defeat.


Bob
MY NOTE: It's all very good saying "I need to be more accountable", but what if your idea of "accountability" means taking more shots even when they're not dropping? What if "accountability" to him means having the ball in his hands more? It's becoming clear to me that Jayson Tatum lacks team B-Ball discipline. He has been taking a tremendous number of very difficult shots, and he shouldn't be unless they're buzzer-beaters and you take whatever you can get and, even then, is the clock that far down because Tatum and Kemba are overdribbling? Hold yourselves accountable for putting the team in a bind because you're dribbling, or staring down the defender, for half of the shot clock available in the half court sets.


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I have never seen a team fall so fast the way this team has. No guts, no glory boys. Tatum is so wrapped up in himself that he has put the team on another planet. Jaylen tries, but falls into the same rut. It may be time for a major shake up, a shocker may be coming But for the money these guys are making, I am tired of hearing that they are young. So isn't Tre Young, so isn't Donovan Mitchell, and many others that I could rattle off. The accountability is team wide, so many bad habits, and Brad needs to sit a couple of these guys for a couple of games.

Hell, if we are going to lose anyway, make them sit and watch the other guys play hard for spots.

I am no coach, never pretended to be. Firing Brad is not what needs to be done. But, I am not stupid enough to say that he needs a change in attitude and demeanor. This is sad, these kids are so talented. But I have said for years, we are paying these kids too early in their careers and the fire in the belly just disappears

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have never seen a team fall so fast the way this team has.  No guts, no glory boys.  Tatum is so wrapped up in himself that he has put the team on another planet. Jaylen tries, but falls into the same rut.  It may be time for a major shake up, a shocker may be coming  But for the money these guys are making, I am tired of hearing that they are young.  So isn't Tre Young, so isn't Donovan Mitchell, and many others that I could rattle off.  The accountability is team wide, so many bad habits, and Brad needs to sit a couple of these guys for a couple of games.

Hell, if we are going to lose anyway, make them sit and watch the other guys play hard for spots.  

I am no coach, never pretended to be. Firing Brad is not what needs to be done.  But, I am not stupid enough to say that he needs a change in attitude and demeanor.  This is sad, these kids are so talented. But I have said for years, we are paying these kids too early in their careers and the fire in the belly just disappears

Rosalie,

You are spot on, in my opinion, as usual.  My mother used to tell me "money makes you weak".  Well, when you're 22 years old and never need to worry about money ever again it's easy to forget the feeling of hunger but, when you're broke, no stones are left unturned if they can help you move ahead.


Bob


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I do not think that either Tatum or Brown take too many shots but I do think their shot selection at times leaves much to be desired. If there outside shots are not falling and thy do not attempt to get to the rim, that is a big problem. Both however do drive the ball.

I do think that too many scoring opportunities are self-created and not the result of high end ball movement. Brad egalitarian offense will never work because the ball will invariably end up in the hands of a guy who cannot score. The Celtics offense needs one thing or the other. They need a pass first PG who can run the offense by identifying the most efficient scoring opportunities or they need for the complimentary players to focus on both ball and player movement and setting screens for our top scorers.

A PG like Rondo would be a perfect player for the J-s but Brad would have to turn the offense over to him. Marcus Smart is out best overall player to run the offense. Kemba may be better playing off the ball because he is not a really good playmaker or passer.

Much of the discussions have been about our offensive malaise but as we all know defense wins games. Defense is all about a willingness to exert energy with efforts. Right now there appears to be way too much fake effort.

There is no doubt, good defense leads to good offense. That has always been the rule on the Celtics, for years and years, no matter who the coach was. Shot selection is terrible a lot of the time, and it is one and done. No offensive rebounding off missed shots. I do disagree with you, Tatum takes way too many shots. Passing the ball around, if it finds its way back to him in good position, then naturally he should take the shot. They just are not thinking out there at all.

I do feel, though, that they just may turn this around. I wish neither was going to the all star game, take time to rest and think about what has happened this first half of the season. I know they will go, but I can wish. They are young, I cannot blame them