Doubters fuel Celts
Disrespect adds new motivation
WALTHAM — The Celtics have made a late addition as the playoffs approach. In addition to the healthy bodies left, they are now playing the disrespect card.
Their postseason prognosis took a hit on opening night when
Gordon Hayward went down, but they seemed to have righted the ship enough to be a contender to make the Finals. Then it was announced Thursday that Kyrie Irving would need another procedure on his knee and would not return until next season.
That brought the narrative that Eastern Conference opponents are looking to get into the No.7 seed so they can get the depleted C’s in the opening round.
“I hope so,” said Marcus Morris. “This team, we’re resilient. Everybody on this team is ready to compete.
“We all feel disrespected. Kyrie,
Marcus (Smart), (Daniel) Theis — all those guys are major for our team, but they’re not here, so we still have to approach the game as if we’re going to win and get as far as we can. We have great coaches that have been really good with us and really resilient with us. We’re ready to go, man. There’s enough talking.
“I don’t see no players saying it. There’s a lot of commentators saying it, but they’re not playing. They’re watching. So we’ll see when we get to the lines.”
Al Horford was more measured. “Well, I think we’re at a point that we’re in the playoffs,” he said. “We’re the two seed. We have homecourt advantage, and at this point the only thing I can say to that is I can’t wait for the playoffs to start. We have the formality. We have to finish these games out and we’ll get better, but I’m looking forward to the playoffs.”
There is a team Morris would like to avoid. It includes a familiar face, the facsimile of which he sees in the mirror.
Morris and his twin brother, Wizards forward Markieff Morris, would just as soon put off a reunion.
“Man, every day we talk about it,” Marcus said. “Honestly, I don’t want to play them first. Can’t lie. I don’t want to play them first, because it’s my brother and we’re going to war.
“When I go out there . . . I’ve been telling (the C’s) this is war time. It’s like fighting for your life out here, and I’d hate to see my brother in the first round, to have to be that bully to my brother when I know it’s going to be like the same going back.
“I’m like, ‘Kieff, c’mon man. Like, (expletive). Get to the 6 or the eighth. I ain’t trying to play y’all in the first round.’ He’s like, ‘I know. I know.’ It said they was like 40 percent to play in the seventh, but then they lost, so I was like, should I be happy that they lost? Then I was like, yeah. They can go to the eighth .... I know that they can beat Toronto. I think that would be a good matchup for them. Us, too, would be a good matchup; don’t get me wrong. But I think them against Toronto would be a good matchup, too.”
Moving forward
The Celts are still working to move on from the Irving loss.
“I was shocked,” said Horford, who sat out Friday’s win over Chicago for rest. “You still had the hope that he was going to be able to come back this season. But now we’re at the point that we just have to look forward, look ahead and obviously wish Ky a speedy recovery. And for our group, what we have now, we have to look forward. We can’t dwell on the past.”
As for how Irving’s absence changes things, he said, “Well, obviously it makes it more difficult. Kyrie is the leader of this team and we went with him, and now we have to find ways to do it without him. And we’ve been playing good basketball . . . . We have a group that’s hungry and that wants to keep getting better. And I think that when you have a group that wants to keep getting better, it’s always a positive.”
Surgery yesterday to remove two screws from Irving’s left kneecap “went exactly as planned,” according to president of basketball operations Danny Ainge in a team release, with the expectation Irving will be fully healthy for training camp.
Shuffling the deck
Guerschon Yabusele had some knee soreness Friday night and missed yesterday’s practice to get tests. Coach Brad Stevens didn’t believe it was anything serious, but it could mean a bit more shuffling with the rotation.
The question now is how to handle rest and readiness over these last three regular season games, beginning this afternoon against Atlanta.
“Depending on how they got through (yesterday) and how they feel (this) morning, I’d say most guys will play,” Stevens said. “But we’ll probably be judicious with minutes and then probably play a similar deal Tuesday or Wednesday, to be determined.”
He would still like to get his regular crew (or what passes for it now) together for another game, with Tuesday at Washington the top candidate.
“I think that’s probably the most likely game to play anyway just because it’s the first of a back-toback,” he said. “But we’re not getting into that stuff. We’re just trying to play as well as we can and then play whoever we play.”
Philly Phanatic
Morris has been ejected with two technicals from two of the last four games, but, said Stevens, “I’m not concerned about it. I don’t know what was said on the second one (Friday). It looked like it was pretty much calmed down by then. I think you want to have a competitive streak. You want to have an edge. Obviously you want to be able to stay in the game, but I’m not worried about it.”
Morris admitted culpability in at least the initial techs but disputed the need for the second. With a nod to his hometown, he was jokingly asked if it was a Philadelphia thing.
“It could be,” he said. “We’re winning too, man. The Eagles won the Super Bowl. They’re hating on me, man. It’s getting crazy. Villanova. You know, Philly’s looking good. Even the Sixers. Hey, I’m with Boston, but the Sixers are looking really good. So I think it might be a Philly thing.”