Brad Stevens On Celtics 1-3 Start: 'We Knew This Stretch Would Be Tough'
BOSTON (CBS) - Head coach Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics called 98.5 The Sports Hub's Gresh & Zolak Friday afternoon to talk about his team, starting with guard Avery Bradley and the injury that kept him out of practice on Thursday.
"He's all set. He just had a muscle strain in his elbow," Stevens said of Bradley. "He got treatment twice yesterday, felt good this morning. So he'll play tonight."
We're only four games in, but the Celtics season up until this point can be summarized as such: Good win, blowout loss, close loss and close loss.
Monday's loss to Dallas ended in a near-miraculous comeback, and Wednesday night the C's simply couldn't ward off the Raptors when they had a big lead. It's the typical ups and downs you'd expect from a young team, no doubt.
But the good news is Stevens thinks the mistakes are correctable, and the team is eons away from being a final product.
"I think we're close. Even in the execution at the end of the games in the last two contests I felt like we got a lot of good shots. I felt like our guys really looked to play with great poise during that moment. The one turnover that hurt us against Toronto, it wasn't an error of execution or an error of effort, it just happened against a real good defender in Kyle Lowry."
The turnover Stevens is referring to came Wednesday night with the score tied at 105 with under a minute to play in the fourth quarter.
Rookie Marcus Smart attempted a crossover, but his pocket was picked by Lowry, who fed DeMar DeRozan for a fast-break layup with 33 seconds left. DeRozan was also fouled on the play and hit the free throw to complete the three-point play. The mistake would seal their fate, and was the team's 28th turnover that evening -- a number that's not conducive to winning basketball games in the NBA.
Again, it's early, the team is young, and the opponents have been challenging.
"I feel good about [improving]. We're playing good teams. We knew this stretch would be tough. Hopefully it builds to a better Celtics team down the road."
In Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk the Celtics have two big men with a shooter's touch. That, coupled with tremendous backcourt defenders, and you have yourself a team best suited to play at a fast pace.
And a fast pace it has been, which leads to more shots for the offense. Against Houston, the team attempted 98 shots. You read correctly. Ninety-eight field goal attempts were taken last Saturday in H-Town, with 24 of those being three-pointers. Only one of those 24 tickled the twine.
"How about that? And then the Spurs go 2-for-20 last night [from three-point range]. Maybe the diameter of the rims or something need to be checked in the Rockets arena," Stevens said in jest, suggesting some possible home cooking.
On playing a fast pace, Stevens said his team will really be tested the next two nights, facing Indiana at home and then Chicago Saturday night on a back-to-back. Playing fast and limiting turnovers will be key for the C's going forward.
"I'm encouraged by the way the ball is moving up the floor. [Rajon] Rondo is doing a great job of leading that pace. ... But we gotta handle the ball more surely than we did on Wednesday, which was not like the first three games. We just gotta make sure we put it all together," said the second-year NBA coach.
As for the team's new "Parquet Pride" uniforms, Stevens admits he hasn't seen them yet.
Listen below for the full interview!
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