Bird’s belief grows with call-up
Jabari Bird is too confident to have ever wondered about fitting in on the Celtics roster, or whether he belonged on an NBA team.
“It’s not so much I had questions or doubts,” the rookie shooter said prior his first career NBA start in last night’s 110-97 win over Brooklyn in the regular season finale at the Garden. “It’s that I had to go out there and see for myself.
“Even when you know you have the ability, you don’t really know until you go out there and try. That’s what happened for me — coach gave me the chance to show what I can do.”
Bird, who spent most of the year with the Maine Red Claws in the G-League and lost time after the new year to a back injury, certainly took advantage of that chance in his 12 games as a Celtic. Last night, he scored seven points and had seven rebounds in 28 minutes.
The bad news is that, as a twoway player whose contract wasn’t converted for the playoffs (the Celtics would have had to cut a guaranteed contract to make that possible), Bird’s time with the parent club ended after last night.
But it’s what Bird learned in those 12 games that’s important.
“Huge confidence booster going into next season,” he said. “I never lacked confidence to begin with, but to go out there and have a couple of games that prove I belong at this level is huge.”
Bird feels equally blessed from his association with coach Brad Stevens.
“He’s definitely a phenomenal coach who should be Coach of the Year,” said Bird. “I’m happy to be a part of the system and learn from some of the best players in the game.”
It also sounds like the Celtics know what they have in this young shooting guard.
“There’s a lot of things to like there,” said Stevens.
There for show
Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown dressed last night, but were strictly on the bench in the case of an emergency. That’s where they stayed all night.
Rozier had injured his left pinky finger a night before in Washington, though without a debilitating result.
“He got his pinky caught on one of those plays, I believe it was the first half,” said Stevens. “Right before you kinda saw him shake it or put it back in place or whatever it was then just go down and score. He was sore, but he feels good today. He could play if we wanted him to.”
At your peril
It’s popular at the moment to downgrade the Celtics’ chances, even in the first round. And Nets coach Kenny Atkinson believes that kind of underestimation would be a mistake.
“After watching our last three games against (the Celtics), it’s different. No disrespect to the other teams, this is the best defensive team in the league,” he said. “I don’t care who they are throwing out there, they are very good defensively.
“Nothing is going to come easy. We better execute. We better screen. We better cut through contact, or those 3s become contested and those assists get deflected.”
He’ll be ready
There’s a perception that Tatum is more ready for playoff competition than his good friend Brown was at this time last year. Stevens isn’t buying it.
“I’m not going to get into comparing. Jayson can be a really good player right away. We don’t win the Washington series last year without Jaylen, and he was really good in the Cleveland series,” Stevens said.
“It’s amazing what young guys can do when they come into this league. Everybody will ask are you ready for the playoffs, ready for this, ready for that, but they’re not playing baseball. They’ve been playing basketball their whole lives and they’ve prepared for this all year. They will be ready.”