Post-Practice 11/5

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4698613/practice-report-2


WALTHAM, Mass. -- The buzzword at Celtics practice on Monday afternoon
was "concern" as coach Doc Rivers and his players were asked to gauge
the uneasiness level after a 1-2 start to the season. Rivers, in fact,
used the word "concern" seven times in answering 12 questions from
reporters, but it was almost always in the context of he's not overly
concerned about the areas affecting his team's slow start.


Rivers did admit that his team is not operating at the level neither
he nor his players expected at this point, particularly after all the
offseason work together.



"[The team is] probably behind," Rivers said when asked about the
team's overall progress. "We have a great first half in Washington, that
is what we needed to see. But I didn’t think we sustained it. I just
think everyone is starting to figure out that, to be a good team, you
have to actually work at it. And it’s hard work. You just don't show up
because you have good names on a piece of paper and become good. You
have to work at it, and you have to work hard at it. And it’s
exhausting."



Rivers put his team through a spirited two-hour session that closed
with conditioning drills as part of 5-on-5 work. Rivers wants to see
better conditioning from his team, particularly after how the team
seemed a bit fatigued down the stretch of Saturday's game in Washington
(nearly allowing the Wizards to rally back in the second half).



A handful of nuggets from the session:



* Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger spent some time after practice
working on pick-and-roll options in skeleton offense. Sullinger drew his
first start Saturday and played well enough to consider more reps at
the power forward spot against teams with bigger lineups.



* Brandon Bass, who shifted to the reserve group with Sullinger
starting in Washington, continues to stress that he's fine with whatever
role he's asked to perform. "That's life, man," said Bass. "You wake
up, you don't know what to expect. Sometimes it'll be like that. You've
just got to make the best of it."



* Courtney Lee was upset with himself after missing multiple open
shots in Saturday's game. Rivers chalked those struggles up to not being
used to having such good looks. "Courtney will make shots," said
Rivers. "We were talking after the game -- he was upset at how many
wide-open shots he missed, he’s just not used to getting that many. He
just has to be a ready shooter."



* What did Boston do well in the first half against the Wizards? "I
thought we played defense, we got into the ball, there was ball
pressure, there was talking," said Rivers. "The first seven or eight
minutes, [Washington] struggled to get a shot off, let alone score a
basket. Then as the game went on, you can see us slowly moving away from
it. I don’t know if that’s breaking old habits from other places, or if
that’s conditioning. When you watch it on film, you think it’s a little
bit of both."



* Jason Terry said this team won't be satisfied by just getting a
win, regardless of how much Boston simply needed a W in Washington.
"That was big for us, but sometimes it's not even about the end result,"
he said. "Again, we're looking at trying to play 48 minutes of Celtics
basketball. And if that results into a win, which the majority of the
time it should, we like it. But if we go out there and play a game like
[in Washington], where we had a 25-point lead, they come back, we have
to close them out in a tough, grind-out game, and we get the win -- we
like the result, but, again, the way we got it, we think we're much
better than that."



* Players had a mandatory post-practice meeting and most used the
opportunity to hustle off after the session. The Celtics are back on the
practice floor Tuesday before completing the home-and-home with the
Wizards on Wednesday night at TD Garden.


This link is to three post-practice interviews. The first is Doc, the second is Bass, the third is JET.


http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4698613/practice-report-2



bob



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