Stevens deflects praise
Lauds work of GS coach Kerr
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
WALTHAM — Steve Kerr is saying nice things about the Celtics, but they don’t plan on letting it go to their heads.
On Tuesday, before leaving to fly east, the Golden State coach said, “It sure looks like Boston is the team of the future in the East with the assets that they still have and their young talent and their coaching. And Kyrie Irving is amazing.
“That looks like a team that is going to be at the top of the East for a long time to come. Whether their time is now or the future, that’s to be determined, but they sure look like they want it to be right now.”
Brad Stevens signaled for a fair catch when the remarks were punted his way.
“The future is hard to predict,” he said. “And we’ve got to stay in the moment to become the best version of ourselves is the answer that I have.
“I really appreciate him saying that. There’s nobody that I could respect more. He’s an incredible person and coach. But, yeah, we have to stay in the moment and try to be as good as we can be, and then we’ll see what the future holds.”
Off and on again
The Celtics were originally scheduled to practice yesterday, but following Tuesday night’s win in Brooklyn it was announced that they weren’t. But by the time the team had flown back home, the workout was back on the slate.
With the hectic NBA schedule, the club has found it hard to fit in sessions and still allow the players proper recovery time. And full-bore workouts are pretty much out of the question.
“There’s not much you can do,” said Stevens. “We’ve got a lot of demand, every other day, on our guys. In these days, we do film breakdown of the day before, we do individual shooting, the guys that didn’t play as much will do more. We do individual lift and conditioning, the guys that didn’t play as much do more. Then we come out and literally in our sweats and walk through both ends.
“I wouldn’t consider this to be a practice, per se, but I do think that these are the kind of things that you have to take advantage of when you have a packed schedule. And your team has to be really good at becoming 100 percent mentally engaged when we’re not 100 percent physically going.”
For the troops
It was a nice moment when Irving took off his jersey and sneakers and presented them to armed forces members in the crowd at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
“I saw that video,” Stevens said. “I think that’s really cool. And I don’t know if they asked for it before, or during, or if he just saw them in the stands and he did that.
“I’ve had a chance to now know Kyrie for a little bit of a time but not a ton of time, but he seems like a really giving person. He looks for things to do in the communities. So that was neat that he did that.”
Said Al Horford: “Kyrie is great. Kyrie has been really great for us setting the tone, being a great example for our players. On the court he’s setting the tone, and off the court it shows what kind of guy he is. To take his time out to do that, I know that made them feel very special.”
Golden defense
Golden State’s firepower continues to draw the most attention, making it a bit of a shame that what the Warriors do at the other end of the floor is often overlooked.
“I think that they’re really good defensively obviously, and I think that Draymond ( Green)’ s voice and versatility is a great kind of anchor for that,” said Stevens. “The way that those guys fly around, the way they cover for one another, when they go small, they’re not small, they’re really long.
“And every one of those guys plays at a good level. Everybody that comes in off the bench, everybody that starts, they all really work hard on that end of the floor. So they’re a hard team to play against on both ends.”