Brad Stevens Says Celtics Are 'Incomplete' At Midway Point Of Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- We've hit the midway point of the NBA season, and the Celtics are pretty much were people expected them to be.
At 26-15, Boston is on pace to win 52 games, that slight improvement over their 48 wins last season that most were predicting before the season got underway. They're currently third in the Eastern Conference, two games behind the Toronto Raptors for the No. 2 seed and 3.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the top spot.
Granted, it'd be nice if they could beat one of those two teams when they square off (sporting an 0-4 record against their two Eastern Conference foes). But given the Celtics had their share of injuries early in the season, with Al Horford, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas all missing time, their standing at the halfway point of the season is not too shabby.
But having a good season goes far deeper than just their place in the standings. Head coach Brad Stevens joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zolak & Bertand on Wednesday, and said his team needs to get much more consistent on both ends of the floor if they want to be the team they want to be.
"[We're] obviously incomplete. We're doing a lot of good things and have played pretty well when healthy. But we still need to get a lot better on both ends of the floor to be the best version of us, and control what we can control for as long as we can," said Stevens. "The biggest thing right now is to not get caught up in anything but trying to enjoy playing well together on both ends of the floor, and see if we can spike up the number of minutes we do throughout the game. We're still short in games with regard to how well we're playing on both ends. We're not going 48 minutes enough; we're having a great 32 minutes, a great 38 minutes, a great 41 minutes, but we're going to have to play better for longer if we want to be the team we want to be."
One area of concern for the Celtics is their defense, or lack there of. After finishing last season with a defensive rating of 100.9, good for fifth in the NBA, the Celtics sit at 105.8 this year, ranking 20th in the league. They're allowing 104.5 points per game, which is 14th in the NBA.
Listen to Stevens' full interview, including his thoughts on Isaiah Thomas' recent stretch of greatness, Avery Bradley's return to the lineup and what it was like to attend last weekend's Patriots-Texans playoff game at Gillette Stadium. Stevens even commented on Zolak and 80s music:
