That's What He Said - Hornets @ Celtics

That's What He Said
Celtics 106 vs. Hornets 98
TD Garden - February 27, 2015






Brian Babineau


Steve Clifford
RE: Boston playing small in the fourth quarter:

That’s their game, that’s everything we talked about. That was the emphasis this morning in the shootaround and you know what, it’s not anything glaring - you’ve got to be strong with the ball. They’re good with their hands, they get good ball pressure. If you look at all of the turnovers, they’re carless mistakes, careless.


RE: What cost his team the game:

It wasn’t passing, it was more individual things. And you know what, that was the other part, the turnover game. But just our effort.


Gerald Henderson


RE: The Hornets playing uncharacteristically sloppy basketball:

We didn’t take care of the ball well tonight. That’s a team that gets up and pressures and tries to speed you up and you have to be strong and make the right decisions, and we just didn’t do a good job of doing that tonight. Myself specifically, I had five turnovers and it’s uncharacteristic.


RE: Protecting the ball:

We usually do a good job of that, tonight we just didn’t.


RE: If it was disruptive when the C's went small:

That’s what they do, they try to be disruptive. When they have a small lineup in, they’re able to switch a lot and play a little bit quicker on both ends. But you know, with that we have to attack and get the ball inside. They were doubling Al [Jefferson] so everybody’s got to be in their spots, got to make the right passes. We did a pretty good job with the double teams but I think on the defensive end we struggled with them playing smaller. When they play like that we just have to play smart on defense.


RE: Rotating the ball well early in the third:

That’s what we want, situations like that. That’s how you gotta kill them when they’re small, even with their starting lineup they were doubling so that’s how you gotta attack them. It’s a hustle team so they got the best of us.


Brad Stevens
RE: Not quitting after Charlotte's 25-1 run:

I thought we ended both the first quarter and the second quarter poorly. And then we carried over the end of the first half into the second half, and put us in a real hole. But there’s a lot of game left as we all know, and just kind of stayed the courses and chipped away and there was a big shot at the end of the quarter that went our way – in the third quarter – and then, you know, came right out of the gate, scored, and now we got a shot. So, it’s a long game. We know it’s a long game. We’ve lived the other side of that and I thought the guys really played hard and well for extended minutes. Some of those guys were in for eighteen straight minutes.


RE: The energy when Jae Crowder, Jonas Jerebko and Isaiah Thomas are on the floor together:

Well, with a two-game sample size I would say it’s been good, but I don’t know that we can determine if it’s good long-term or not. I think that the biggest thing for me has always been if you can find somebody with enough speed and skill that can guard above their size, then you can give them – create some havoc on the other side of the court. And that’s what Jae has done. Jae’s ability to guard the post has given us some options as we’ve been smaller here, and Jonas too. But we had to double Al (Jefferson) still and we had to do some of that stuff, but Jae did a great job on Al Jefferson. I mean, he did as good as anybody can.


RE: If he sees progress in his team:

The hard part – I’ve said it all year and I even said it when we were, at the start of the year and losing all those games – I know structurally we’re way better. Offensively and defensively I felt really good about that. Obviously when you have personnel change that can go both ways, but I’ve always felt good about it. And I feel really good about the way that we approach things. I think we still have a lot of room for growth, and we’ve got to get a lot better, there’s no question about it. But we approach improvement the right way, and that’s big. I mean, that’s not just the new guys, that’s the guys that have been here have – they’ve really done a good job. The young guys and the Brandon Basses of the world and Avery Bradleys – everybody’s approached it the right way and stayed pretty even-keeled through all results. And, hey, we’re 23-33, so it’s not like, again, we’re setting the world on fire. I don’t want to overstate it.


RE: What allows Jae Crowder to guard larger players:

Well he’s strong, that’s number one. He’s strong, he gets in a stance, he does his work early defensively, and he’s very, very, very competitive and prideful. And you can tell that. Him against Al Jefferson every day is not going to work, but you know, for – I’ve always thought, at least the guys that I’ve coached – the toughest of the tough could guard anybody for a possession. Or could guard anybody for a couple of minutes. And they kind of get excited about that, and that’s a good description of Jae. Jae wants to guard that guy. Like he wants to take on that challenge and see if he can. And I think you get a guy like that, that helps, and then his ability to stretch it on the other side of the floor is what makes it work, right? Because otherwise it would be negated anyways.


Avery Bradley
RE: What Jonas Jerebko brings to the table:

When he played for Detroit I knew he played very hard, and all you can do is respect someone that plays that way. He makes big shots and that’s what he’s doing for us and I feel like he can really help our team out.


RE: The bench making big shots:

Yeah. Jae (Crowder) is playing the five for us at times and he’s making big plays. Not only that, he’s defending well for us and that’s really big for our team and I know that makes things a lot easier for Brad (Stevens) knowing that whoever he puts in is going to play hard and not play for themselves, but play for each other.


Jae Crowder
RE: Covering Al Jefferson:

It was a challenge, and I like to step up to the challenge and give my best effort and that’s all I did. I tried to make it tougher and not let him get too deep in the post and try to push him out as much as possible. He’s the type of guy that will make you lay on him the whole possession so I try not to let him lay on me and try not to let him feel me as much as possible.


RE: Going from 16-points down to having a lead:

I felt like we passed up some good shots, but we settled down and took the shots given to us and were able to make them and make a run. I felt like we got to do what they were dictating us to do and they wanted us to second guess our shots. Once we started making the first 3 and making them play off that we were fine.


RE: If the Celtics are getting more comfortable:

Yeah, of course. I think we are getting there as well. With the new guys just now coming we’re feeling each other out well on the court and playing to each other’s strengths. Once you do that you can only get better; watch film and get better for next game.


Isaiah Thomas


RE: What sparked Boston's comeback:

Staying in attack mode. I think once we hit a few shots, we got a little bit of confidence and we’re just in attack mode the last 16-17 minutes of that game where we had the Hornets on their heels. That’s where we wanted them and we played a pretty good half.


RE: If tonight felt like a playoff game:

No doubt. I think that was a playoff game; two teams fighting to get into the playoffs and we were down 16 and we didn’t give up, we just kept fighting and fighting and kept believing in each other and we got the win.


RE: Charlotte's adjustments:

Yeah, the good teams make you adjust to them. We went small and they had to make a move and adjust and it worked in our favor.
RE: Avery Bradley calling him the "spark":

That’s pretty nice, but it's not me - it's this team. We’re playing hard, coach is putting us in position to be successful and that’s the key. We are believing in each other.


Jonas Jerebko
RE: If he likes playing center:

It’s the second day I got asked that question. I like the system we play and we’re spreading the floor out there and the centers are a little bit slower than me so why not.


RE: Isaiah Thomas spreading the floor and getting guys open looks:

Yeah. He’s so good at attacking the basket and everyone is going to shrink in and find open shooters and if they don’t he’s going to try and finish. He’s a great player and we’re just trying to play off of him.


RE: What Boston is doing to create open shots:

We’re just trying to find openings and trying to spread the floor and make the floor as wide as possible for him (Isaiah Thomas) and make plays.




bob


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