Injury could bench Irving
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
WALTHAM — A week after meeting the 76ers in London, the Celtics will host them tonight in New (and allegedly improved) England. And there is some uncertainty with the local colonists.
Kyrie Irving reported left shoulder soreness following Tuesday’s loss to New Orleans. He received treatment yesterday and went through the afternoon walkthrough, but is listed as questionable for tonight. Also in that designation are Marcus Smart and Guerschon Yabusele, who missed the session with illness.
“We’re going to figure it out,” said coach Brad Stevens. “It could be the flu that Shane (Larkin) and (Abdel) Nader had the last couple of days, so wash your hands.”
Jayson Tatum’s left knee made it through the Pelicans game without trouble, but Stevens is not sure if one or more from the Irving-Smart-Yabusele group will be an issue tonight.
The coach is certain, however, that he’d like to see a more consistent performance than in last week’s 114-103 victory over the Sixers, an outing in which the Celts trailed by as many as 22 points in the second quarter.
“We’re going to have to be very good (tonight), because they outplayed us for a good portion of the London game,” he said.
Philly will be without JJ Redick (knee) who had 22 in that game, but with the likes of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the visitors still pose a significant threat.
“Yeah, it’s still very fresh on our minds, the things that they run on offense,” said Al Horford of the return match. “What I took away is they’re a team that plays really hard. We have to make sure that from the beginning of the game we’re right with it. And we can’t build ourselves a hole like we did in London. So we have to make sure that we get off to a good start.”
Roughhouse times
NBA behavior is very much in the news, with players from the Rockets confronting the Clippers in their dressing room on Monday and Simmons challenging Toronto’s Kyle Lowry to meet him outside their locker rooms after their confrontation.
“Very bizarre,” said Horford. “I don’t think I can remember a period of time with all this chippiness going on. I think that you want to compete, you want to play hard. That’s fine. But all that extra stuff, you know, it needs to stop. At the end of the day, you need to focus on basketball.
“We’re here to play, and I’m sure the NBA will address those things and fix them. We’re professionals. We can’t get caught up in that stuff.”
Pick up the offense
The Celtics have at times shown signs of a powerful and concerted offensive approach. But they’ve also found their way to the other end of that spectrum.
“I just think we need to keep creating those good habits,” said Horford. “Having such a young group and a new team, it takes time to figure all those things out. We put a lot of effort on defense. I feel like a lot of the times, and sometimes our offense suffers a little bit. That’s what I think personally. But I think that as we keep going, our guys are aware that we need to be better on offense. Our pace needs to be better. So we just need to figure it out, just keep working at it.
“I think that sometimes we’re not running our offense with enough pace at times, and we get caught with under six seconds left on the clock and we have to force a tough shot. And we have plenty of guys that have that ability and they make them, but as much as we can get those open looks it will be better for our group.”