Brad Stevens won’t ride roller coaster

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2015/11/celtics_notebook_brad_stevens_won_t_ride_roller_coaster



Celtics Notebook: Brad Stevens won’t ride roller coaster


Steve Bulpett Monday, November 09, 2015






Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)





WALTHAM — It’s still just five games into the season, but in a three-day span last week we saw the Celtics pushed to frustration in Indiana by a third straight loss, then showered with praise after beating Washington by 20 points.

It is the task of coach Brad Stevens to treat these two impostors the same.

“The hardest part about winning and losing is the emotions that come with it,” Stevens said before yesterday’s practice. “Being able to handle not only the negative emotions that come with losing, but being able to handle a win is just as difficult. So I think the biggest thing is that it’s my job to just kind of define reality every day.

“We showed a bunch of good clips from the Indy game and some bad ones. Today we’ll show a bunch of bad ones and some good ones (from the win over the Wizards) and just kind of keep grinding away. . . . But we still need to get better.”

In that regard, the rotations and combinations employed are a work in progress.

“It still evolves,” Stevens said. “I think the biggest thing — and I’ve always been big on this — is how can we best complement each other offensively? Defensively, I think we’ve got some very, very good perimeter defenders and we can go deep into our bench guarding on the perimeter. I think that at the end of the day it really is becoming with this team, how can we be great defensively, be our best defensively, but at the same time score the ball?”

The defense appears to be taking care of itself fairly well — to a point. As of yesterday, the Celts were eighth-best in opponents’ field goal percentage at 41.4, but allowing foes access to the offensive glass has them allowing 100 points a game to put them in the middle of the league pack.

“We’ll find out,” said Stevens when asked about confidence in his defense. “I think the biggest thing is how it’s performed is fine, but you have to choose to be good at that. You have to choose to be good at that as a group. That’s not something you can turn on and off.”

Forward Jae Crowder thinks the Celtics are making their own opportunities for steals.

“I think with us being young and so active, we have the ability to cause turnovers and wreak havoc,” Crowder said. “I think that plays into what we want to do. And just like the other night, we got up and down. We didn’t call as many sets as we usually do, and it showed in the 40-point first quarter.”


Smart, Crowder to return

Crowder (bruised left knee) and point guard Marcus Smart (sprained left big toe) are expected to play tomorrow night in Milwaukee, though neither practiced yesterday.

“Both are feeling better,” Stevens said. “Jae woke up a little stiffer today than he did yesterday. But they feel for the most part that both guys are at least projecting toward being likely available Tuesday.”

Said Crowder, “Yeah, I’m for sure going. For sure.”

Crowder is expected to stay in the starting lineup, and Smart, after two games out with the toe problem, should take his starting job back from Isaiah Thomas.

“If they’re available, I don’t know if there will be minute issues or whatever the case may be,” Stevens said. “But most likely, if they’re both available and they’re both good to go, yeah.”


Adding fuel to their fires

A little quasi-negativity can go a long way around the Celts. Crowder told Jared Sullinger he was being disrespected by defenses and the power forward responded with 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting against the Wizards. He spoke similarly to center Kelly Olynyk, who had 19 on 7-of-11 marksmanship in that game.

“You have to,” Crowder said of the strategy. “It’s all gas. We call it gas around here. I mean, you’ve just got to gas him up. It brings the best out of players. I know myself it does, and Isaiah, we play with each other and we joke around and try to make it tough on each other. We know how to push each other’s buttons to get us going, so I did the same thing with Sully and he performed well. I think it helped him.

“Same thing I did with Kelly. Let him know that he’s being disrespected. You’ve got to shoot the ball, and it worked out.”

On the subject of opponents not respecting his shot, Olynyk deadpanned, “Yeah, that would be nice if they do that. I would appreciate that.” . . .

The Celtics have assigned forward Jordan Mickey and guard/forward James Young to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.



bob
MY NOTE: Brad Stevens is the perfect coach for a team that is in a state of flux. He bleeds all the drama out of it. If Jae Crowder is the reason why Sully has exploded the last few games and Kelly starts shooting more, then he deserves a raise.


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