Stevens: We're Not A Good Basketball Team

And, in other news, water is wet.







Brad Stevens: Boston Celtics 'not a very good basketball team'




Print Jay King, MassLive.com By Jay King, MassLive.com
on January 29, 2014 at 12:41 AM, updated January 29, 2014 at 10:20 AM



NEW YORK – It all started with a series of backdoor cuts. While assessing the damage, that beginning felt appropriate.

The Boston Celtics kept looking one way (away from the hoop) while the New York Knicks cut another (toward it). It took less than nine minutes for the Celtics to fall behind by 17 points.

Before long, Knicks journeyman Jeremy Tyler was powering dunks through the rim and setting a career high with 17 points. New York star Carmelo Anthony did not even need to appear during the fourth quarter, and still the Celtics lost 114-88.

Asked whether his team fell because of effort or execution, Rajon Rondo said, “It was effort. It was everything. We didn’t do anything well as a team, individually. And they exposed us.”

“We didn’t take anything away tonight,” Rondo added. “We gave them pretty much everything they want. They’re a 3-point shooting team; they did that. They rolled hard to the basket, got wide open dunks (and) uncontested layups; they did that. We didn’t take away anything. They took away stuff from us, but we didn’t take away anything from those guys.”

Head coach Brad Stevens called it “a good, old-fashioned butt kicking.”

That’s just about as close as he gets to cussing out his team.

“I think the proof is in the pudding. Whatever we are record-wise, we’re not a very good basketball team,” Stevens said. “We need to embrace this opportunity to get better, to be the best that we can be, and try to compete all the way to the horn – and win at the end of the games. And that’s something that we just have to get better at. It’s not a knock on anybody. It’s just where it is. It’s where we are right now.”

The Celtics have been the worst offensive team in the NBA over the past 21 games, during which they are 3-18. Some reasons are obvious: Rondo’s still not close to 100 percent, Avery Bradley’s hurt, Jeff Green’s inconsistent, the big men are all undersized or slow-footed, Phil Pressey can’t shoot, Gerald Wallace won’t shoot, and Courtney Lee’s outside touch off the bench has been missed.

But -- albeit with Jordan Crawford operating at a high level and Lee hitting about half his shots for the second unit -- this crew put together stretches of offensive competency earlier in the season. Stevens is searching for ways to get his team’s groove back.

“We just have to get more connected. We have to get more together,” Stevens said. “We don’t have a lot of time together with some of these guys that are playing for us right now. But those guys are really having some pretty good moments, the new ones. We have to get everybody back on one page, playing as well as we can. I think we also have to really analyze and look at what we’re doing collectively, because we’re going through a drought right now scoring. But at the same time, the way we defended, we wouldn’t have beat them if we scored tonight.”

Lately, Celtics games have all felt similarly gross.

“I think we’re in the same place as we were last game, and the game before that,” Brandon Bass said. “We’re trying to get a win. We’re trying to get better each and every day. We don’t want to just act like it’s the end of the world when we get a loss.”

The world has not ended, but it looks quite a bit drearier than it did a month and a half ago.

“Just got to continue to demand (effort), night-in and night-out on a consistent level, a consistent basis,” Rondo said. “We play so many games; we can’t take nights off. When you do, the score will end up looking like this.”




bob
MY NOTE:  A back door cut?  What's that?  I can't remember.


.

I think when you expect players to do things that they are not capable of doing you run the risk of a shutdown.

This is not specifically related to the performance or lack thereof against the Knicks but rather a general statement about human nature.

This team has lost all confindence. This happens when trades are made, when players are expected to play out of position and rotations are constantly changing.

I hope that Stevens has not already lost this team.

Stevens needs to figure out what will work best while knowing that no matter what he tries to implement he does not have a full compliment of players for all 5 positions.

With Rondo back Stevens is faced with the task of having to implement a new offense. Like it or not Rondo is a ball control point guard not unlike all the other PG's in this league. That means that the motion offense is dead. You will get some movement but Rondo is more specifically looking to get the ball to a certain player.

Many of these players are not familiar with how he plays. So right now the team looks confused on offense but that will change. Also we need a shooting guard in the game at the start so I would not be surprised if CJ is in there from the begining or comes in early in the 1st QTR.

Perhaps when AB comes back things will settle down a bit.

We are still going to struggle defending and scoring in the post.

Our non shooting bigs that think they are Larry freakin Bird may want to refrain from taking 3 point shots unless it is absolutely necessary.

Coach Stevens your team has trouble rebounding the basketball so get your big guys close to the basket. Pull out one of your key metrics and go for it.

dboss

There has been a great deal of upheaval that has thrown chemistry to the wind. I understand that this makes it hard to play well as a unit.

But be that as it may, there still needs to be discernible effort. Most of the guys still on the team have been since training camp. They have positional flaws due to a lack of personnel, but a lack of personnel can't be an excuse for what we've been witnessing.

These guys are supposed to be professionals, but it appears that the adversity of this season has taken its toll. The rotations are slower, ball movement hasn't been crisp. Even open shots are being missed.

A center is needed, but so is the willingness to fight night in and night out. Otherwise, what good is a center on a team not willing to fight?



KJ

I believe a motion offense is exactly what Brad is trying to run. And I don't agree that Rondo's looking to pass to a specific teammate. At present, I think he'll take whoever he can get. I don't blame him for the fact that teammates are like statues out there. I do blame him for not moving himself, which is a way of creating passing lanes. He just pounds the ball and stands there waiting for something to happen. Occasionally, something does happen in the form of a teammate breaking free. More often, the so-called "motion offense" is stagnant, and some kind of hero shot results.

I like to focus on Johnson at both ends. He really moves on offense; and, as Brad says, he's the best Celtic at reacting on the flow of the game to space the floor. He occasionally strays from his man on defense to give help to teammates, but he's invariably quick to recover.

In my opinion, he has a great package of skills and mental outlook within that 6' 6" body.

Sam