Celtics Notebook: Youth Is Served On Back-To-Backs

Celtics Notebook: Youth is served on back-to-backs







Photo by: AP photo
OVER THE TOP: Celtics guard Evan Turner shoots over the defense of Pacers forward Solomon Hill during the first half of last night’s game in Indianapolis.


Sunday, March 15, 2015
By:  Mark Murphy, Celtics Notebook



INDIANAPOLIS — Frank Vogel can understand why the Celtics have become so good on the second night of back-to-back games.

After all, they converted another swing last night with a 93-89 win over Vogel’s Pacers, and are 7-1 on second nights in their last eight opportunities, 8-5 for the season.

“They’re young and athletic,” the Pacers coach said. “That’s what you need in those situations — energy.”

Brad Stevens has also turned this nagging part of the schedule into a strength. Some teams, especially veteran teams, can view these swings as a chore. But the Celtics coach has refused to give his team that out.

“I don’t have time to prepare and it takes me out of it. I’m probably the problem,” Stevens joked. “What we’ve done is make it a conscious effort to say no excuses on back-to-backs. Instead of that, let’s be the best team we can be on back-to-backs, and see how we stack up against the rest of the league. Even when we weren’t very good, and we’re still seven games under .500, it was still something we hung our hat on.

“It’s a mindset,” he said. “Our travel people do a good job, our nutritionists, athletic trainers — we have food on the plane, a big point of contention yesterday.”

Said Tyler Zeller: “Coach does a great job of always keeping us prepared. He keeps it short in the mornings and allows us to sleep. He gives us the information we need. We’re one of the younger teams in the league, so we have to be ready to go. Our routines are shorter because we played the night before. But you still get enough work done to be ready to play.”

Thomas’ understudy

In the three games since he’s replaced the injured Isaiah Thomas off the bench, Phil Pressey has attacked the rim with Thomas’ assuredness. That’s not just because Pressey has been studying Thomas, according to Stevens.

“Our second unit, just like with Isaiah, has so much skill on it that you can’t over-help,” Stevens said. “There’s more openings. It’s not a revelation for Phil. It’s more the spacing of the other guys around him. But Phil’s been great. He’s played a great three games and we wouldn’t be in this situation without him. He’s been a third-string guy, and we can throw him in there and never miss a beat.”

Besides, Pressey has been watching Thomas for quite some time.

“Before he got here, he’s one of the guys who (assistant coach) Kwame (Graves) had me watch,” said Pressey, who had seven points and four assists last night. “Just having him on the team makes it easier for myself as well.”

Check please!

Offering up his own sated late-night appetite as evidence, Stevens shot down an assertion Friday night by Evan Turner that he had cancelled food on the postgame flight as punishment for a poor first half against Orlando.

Turner, citing an invective-filled halftime tirade by the Celtics coach, said he heard that Stevens had cancelled the catering order for the flight, even if the Celtics came back to beat the Magic.

Uh-uh, Stevens said.

“I don’t know exactly what Evan said, but I do know he likes to joke around,” the coach said. “At halftime I was really disappointed with how we finished off the half, so I used a couple of adjectives I don’t normally use. But I certainly never said anything about snacks and food on the plane, because I like the snacks and food on the plane. I would never do that.”

Turner actually went on to lead the comeback against the Magic. In light of a threat Stevens never actually made, the coach now has a new idea of how to motivate Turner.

“If he said that he’s wrong. But he can say whatever he wants when he makes shots like that,” said Stevens. “If that’s what he was thinking about when the ball was going through the net, then we have to figure out the best of both worlds. But I like snacks too much to take them off, no matter what happens.”

Turner, told of Stevens’ new motivational idea, laughed.

“I’m down with it. I’ll do anything,” said Turner, who still insists, however, that someone told him there would not be food.




bob



.

There are several players without whom the Celtics couldn't have come close to their recent success.  They're that close to having no margin for error.  Of for injury.

But, despite my new man crush on Jae Crowder, the one player I credit most for mitigating the absence of their mighty mite dynamo, Isaiah Thomas, has been Phil Pressey.  He has made sure the Celtics (at least the bench plus starters who often play along with bench) haven't slowed one single beat with Isaiah's temporary exit.  And I think it's fair to say that Phil contributes much better defense than Thomas.

I'll be extremely glad when the human dynamo returns, but I hope the extended minutes in a successful role will become a building block on which he can carve out a decent pro career for himself.  Possibly with the Celtics.  One huge advantage of having him as a backup is that he seems realistic about the pecking order on the team and (at least for now) doesn't see himself as under-appreciated and under-rewarded.

Sam

sam wrote:There are several players without whom the Celtics couldn't have come close to their recent success.  They're that close to having no margin for error.  Of for injury.

But, despite my new man crush on Jae Crowder, the one player I credit most for mitigating the absence of their mighty mite dynamo, Isaiah Thomas, has been Phil Pressey.  He has made sure the Celtics (at least the bench plus starters who often play along with bench) haven't slowed one single beat with Isaiah's temporary exit.  And I think it's fair to say that Phil contributes much better defense than Thomas.

I'll be extremely glad when the human dynamo returns, but I hope the extended minutes in a successful role will become a building block on which he can carve out a decent pro career for himself.  Possibly with the Celtics.  One huge advantage of having him as a backup is that he seems realistic about the pecking order on the team and (at least for now) doesn't see himself as under-appreciated and under-rewarded.

Sam

Pressey had not done much prior to IT arriving here, cept only for fleeting glimpses...perhaps it is no more simple than watching IT preform and knowing/watching and thinking "hey I can push the ball like that. I can penetrate like that...." then the injury and Phil got his chance.

beat

I disagree with Frank Vogel's assessment of why the Cs are doing well in the second game of back to backs because they are "young".

This basketball obstacle is much more mental than physical and always has been.  Stevens is turning the mental concept of basically "every team loses way more than they win" in the second game of the back to backs around with how important it is to think that you should win these games.  Just another part of his contributions to the developing Celtics culture and team success.

The idea of not being able to play 35 minutes (hardly any NBA players often play even 35 minutes per game any longer) of full court, full bore basketball on back to back nights has always been a huge, huge excuse, in my opinion.   Everyone who has played basketball in the summer has played three, four, five or even more games in the SAME day and then come back and done the exact same thing the very NEXT day.  I had zero talent, but if I was able to do this, then all these great NBA athletes can do it and waaaaaaay  more.

It is just that Stevens is not allowing the 'excuse' to enter the minds of these young athletes so they now think that they should win these games.  Great job by our head coach yet again.

Clyde,

I think it has been an excuse, too.  But their back-to-back record extends over 14 pairs of games, so it includes many games before "the great metamorphosis."  Youth is the only commonality that I can think of that has been a factor for this team.  Maybe I'm just missing something.

Sam

Sam,

Rondo was certainly not old when he left Boston (and neither was Jeff Green), and I cannot blame him/them for all of the team's issues this year, but since Rondo has left there has been a different culture on this team.  Not more talent, but a very different mental culture that is seen in the idea of doing better in back to backs, playing better team defense, performing much better late in games, and the list goes on and on. None of the guys brought in (even Thomas) has more talent than Rondo or Green, but the results are much better.

The idea of being mentally sharper leads to physical sharpness which leads to having fun and better overall team performance in all areas of the game.  It is my opinion that the Cs are actually less talented since Rondo and Green were traded, but the end results certainly do not show this because our group of guys is now a much better "team".

It is quite amazing what teams can do mentally when there sometimes is addition by subtraction.

Clyde,

Almost frightening in some ways.  It seems counter-intuitive to wonder whom the team would do better without.  But, all evidence points to that being the case with the departures of Rondo and Green.  I think Brad was constantly hoping they could show to their best advantage, but that just wasn't happening consistently.

Sam