Celtics Not Panicking Over Slow Start
BOSTON (CBS) -- Just five minutes into the new season, the Boston Celtics found themselves in a truly unique and difficult situation.
With Gordon Hayward likely lost for the season following his gruesome ankle injury, the C's are scrambling to figure things out. Hayward's absence leaves a giant void on both ends of the floor, and has creating a whole new conundrum for head coach Brad Stevens. The fancy new lineup featuring three all-star players he spent the last two months planning for is no longer an option, leaving the coach turning to just about everyone on his young and unproven bench.
We saw it Wednesday night in Boston's home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks, the second night of a back-to-back following Tuesday's emotional loss in Cleveland, when Stevens went to Abdel Nader as his first man off of the bench. He was one of four rookies in Stevens' 10-man rotation Wednesday night, along with Jayson Tatum (who logged eight points and nine rebounds in 37 minutes), second-round pick Semi Ojeleye, and Daniel Theis. The team's lack of familiarity with each other was evident throughout the 108-100 loss, as Boston had trouble running the plays called from the sideline. There were times when players ran into each other, and a few occasions where two players ran the same cut to the basket. Most importantly, the Celtics let a fourth-quarter lead slip away for the second straight evening, this time courtesy of an 11-0 mad dash by Milwaukee.
"I'm hopeful that we can find the right combinations," Stevens said after the game. "We obviously didn't anticipate going this far into the bench this early, but I thought some of those guys did a pretty good job. I thought Nader did a good job; I thought that Semi provided some good minutes defensively. And then I thought Theis, when he came in, did a pretty good job. The part that we've got to find is a combination that works all together, especially when we go to the bench right now."
With Hayward out, Boston's margin for error is slim. On some nights it will be non-existent. The weight of the team is now on the shoulders of Kyrie Irving, who more times than not will carry the team to victory. But on Wednesday night, their star guard was off of his game, forcing shots to the tune of seven-for-25 from the floor. He finished with 17 points and just three assists.
Irving admitted the team is not in the most ideal situation at the moment, but injuries happen in sports. He said after the loss the team needs to remain confident despite their 0-2 start to the season.
"I don't want to make the excuse that we're a young team, but we are. We have some experience here and we have to utilize that to exude confidence in the guys and ourselves, understand that the game comes in waves," explained Irving. "There will be ups and downs. We have to withstand other teams' runs and hit back; have that hit first mentality in the first, second, third and fourth quarter. Once we start understanding that we have to put a complete game together, including myself being the head of the ball, being better with the ball and putting guys in their spots, we'll be fine."
"There's no need to panic," said guard Jaylen Brown, who tallied 18 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. "Brad's right, we got a lot of plays to clean up and a lot of stuff to get better at, but that's the beauty of it. We got a really good group and a lot of young guys – we're going to move forward and take that challenge. We're going to win some games. We're going to win a lot of games here in Boston."
Irving isn't panicking either, urging patience from everyone. He said there is no time to tear down their previous plan and start anew; they just need to figure things out with what they have.
"We don't got time for square one, I'll tell you that right now. We don't have time to go back to square one. It's time to just figure it out moment to moment, and we'll be all right," he said.
The C's will look to nab their first win of the season on Friday night when they visit the 76ers in Philadelphia. After that, Stevens and crew will have three days off to hit the practice floor and try to figure things out.
