Kyrie Irving on Boston Celtics chemistry: ‘We’re building a cemented trust’

https://celticswire.usatoday.com/2018/03/10/kyrie-irving-on-boston-celtics-chemistry-were-building-a-cemented-trust/



Kyrie Irving on Boston Celtics chemistry: ‘We’re building a cemented trust’



By: Jared Weiss | 1 hour ago



The Boston Celtics are back to performing at their high standards from earlier in the year. While they have struggled to stay healthy, they are taking shape for the stretch run as they build a “cemented trust,” according to Kyrie Irving.

The All-Star break gave the Boston Celtics everything they needed. It was an international showcase for their established and emerging talent. It was a much-needed vacation for a taxed second unit.

It was a time to recover, build and fortify.

Boston has led the league in offensive rating at 121.2 since the All-Star break as they’ve gone 6-1, well ahead of the red-hot Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. Per Cleaning the Glass, who excludes garbage time and heaves from their data, the Celtics have climbed to 13th in offensive rating for the season at 108.2, just one basis point behind the Charlotte Hornets. All this, while still holding the league’s best defensive rating by a comfortable margin at 103.2 per CTG.

All this is to say, well, they’re really good again. Just ask Kyrie Irving.

“Well yeah. What are we six months in? Four months, five months? Yeah, whatever how many months we’re in. We have a few games left and I think that we are developing just cemented trust. Not just a game-to-game trust. I think that we’re just getting to one another and just continue to grow closer as a group because I think we know what we’re getting into, what we’re getting prepared for. Focus is there, the challenge is to remain fairly consistent.”

The consistency has come from a resurgence with the second unit. Finally healthy and in shape, Marcus Morris has been dominating as of late. Marcus Smart is back in rhythm after missing a month with his hand injury and Terry Rozier has just continued his high level of play since his unforgettable week as a starter. The coaching staff has even finally figured out how to integrate Greg Monroe smoothly into their scheme.

“I think that we have everybody healthy. Brad’s doing a great job of figuring out what lineups work,” Irving said. “We see something very special in our second unit, they’ve been playing extremely well, changing the game, offensively and defensively. Just our pace, probably our focus to getting great shots not just good shots. So it’s just maturing over time, understanding where guys want to be and where we have to be in order for our offense to run fairly smoothly.”

Stevens has made some small adjustments to his rotation patterns, getting Horford and Tatum out of the quarter a little earlier and having Irving run with Smart and Rozier some more. Their three-guard lineups have been potent in the past and will be a staple come playoff time. They are recalibrating those various lineup combinations now and are getting some strong results. The key has been using Irving off the ball as a shooting guard, being able to run a variety of actions to get him the ball on the move.

There were concerns that the hot start out of the break was inflated by an easy schedule. Then they went to Houston, where the bench dropped a season-high 67 points and the Celtics fell by just three points in one of the best games of the season. Any mitigating factors were assuaged by a core second unit rotation built off of two Marcuses and Scary Terry Rozier, who has become a partner in crime with Kyrie this year.

“We’ve been moving the ball, we’ve been getting the defense moving, keeping the defense guessing,” Smart said. “We have a lot of guys step up: Terry Rozier, Marcus Morris, Daniel Theis, Greg Monroe’s coming along with that second unit. And then of course you know what Kyrie does. And when you’re playing on the ball, him playing off the ball, it takes out another defender because you know exactly how they’re going to play Kyrie. And then me being on the ball, I’m a great passer and a great playmaker so it’s good to have our best player and our best scorer off the ball, finding him.”

A huge part of Isaiah Thomas’ evolution last year from a good scorer to historically great was designing actions and crafting lineups that would allow him to thrive off the ball. Smart and Horford played a huge role in that, finally freeing the team from the shackles of having only one confident playmaker on the floor. Halfway through the year and they’re starting to really figure things out with Kyrie.

“It was difficult when Gordon first got hurt, because Gordon was going to assume a lot of the primary roles when Kyrie was off the ball, but that’s one of the reasons I don’t get too caught up in the position thing,” Stevens said. “Playing a couple of point guards together – that allows guys like Kyrie to play off of it. When he’s off the ball we can get him on a live dribble off the catch, we can run him in a couple of different actions, he’s tremendous from an efficiency standpoint in those areas. At the very least he’s really going to be guarded.”

Irving is a sneaky runner off the ball. He is able to pirouette to awkward spots on the floor, like the short baseline corner or near elbow, and be able to attack out of those spots off the catch. When teams are defending his ballscreens with ice defense, they will move the action to the elbows to try to put the defense in tricky help sequences.

“On an empty side roll with a big rolling to the rim, you’re in a tough spot if you’re helping off Kyrie or stopping the dunk,” Stevens said. “There’s all kinds of benefits to it. It takes a lot of energy to have the ball all the time. Ultimately the more you can mix that up the better.”

Irving is enjoying the creativity and evolution of his role in the offense under Stevens. He has played for several coaches in his career, starting with a draconian defensive coach in Byron Scott, another defensive architect in Mike Brown, an offensive innovator who struggled with leadership in David Blatt, to a renowned players coach in Ty Lue. Everyone had their pros and cons. But nobody has really identified a hole in Stevens’ resume yet.

“I’ve played with a few great coaches. Some of their schemes were different based on what their system is,” Irving said. “Brad does a great job of utilizing everyone on the floor. Backdoor cuts, just making the game a lot easier for everyone out there. I think that’s something he has to offer as a coach and obviously, with his ATOs and how brilliant he is on the defensive end. So you just to follow him as best as you can.”


The offensive system for both the starters and the variety of second units Stevens and his staff concoct are thriving. There is more of a smooth handoff from the starters to the reserves than they’ve seen in awhile and it’s hitting its stride just in time. It all ties back to Stevens. Consistency starts at the top and trickles down throughout the organization.

“Well he has a very unwavering belief and I think that you need that as a coach, to really echo confidence within the guys that are playing in that second unit,” Irving said. “I’m with him all the way. They play extremely well together, come in and change the game. That’s what we need from them.”


bob
Remember Al's first year here?  It took until about this point in the season before he played like he was comfortable, and Horford is a very cerebral player.  It takes time.  Could we be peaking at just the right moment?

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Sorry I think that 3 guard line up sucks....if BS is gonna use it, not at crunch time and please not with Morris and Al at the 4-5.