Right on point in bigger role
Rozier embraces new challenge
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
MILWAUKEE — Terry Rozier is off to a bombastic start in the playoffs, both with his performance and his willingness to step up emotionally for the Celtics, as evidenced by his ongoing tit-for-tat with Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe.
It’s all part of the 24-yearold point guard’s emergence in the void left by Kyrie Irving’s season-ending knee surgery. And Rozier has been guided, in a very careful way, by his coach. Rozier recalled during a morning shootaround, before the Celtics played in last night’s Game 3 against Milwaukee, when Brad Stevens began preparing him to take on an enormous playoff responsibility.
As Rozier recalls, the conversation happened on the last day of the regular season.
“I was in the gym getting shots up on a day off, and he was in there, because Brad’s there every day. And he just came down on the court,” said Rozier. “I think it was the day after we played the Wizards, and we had a game (against the Nets) that day too. But I wasn’t playing. And I seen him in the gym. And we just talked. And he just basically showed his confidence in me, which I already knew he had since I first came in. And we just shared a little moment. And it was good.
“I didn’t play that night,” he said. “Playoffs are about to start, so we just talked a little on the court. He’s been communicating with me. Everything’s been good. Stress-free.”
But “stress-free” should not be confused with Rozier’s well chronicled willingness to use doubters as a motivation.
“That’s not going to leave. That’s just part of me. That’s who I am,” Rozier said of the chip on his shoulder. “That’s where I come from. That defines me. But I’m just having fun with it and I’m trying to win. And that’s the most important thing. I care about my teammates and I’m just out there having fun. That’s the most important thing. Like I said, I’m stress-free.”
Asked again about his ongoing beef with Bledsoe, Rozier said, “He can’t motivate me. He don’t motivate me at all. Even the negative stuff when you turn on ESPN, they wasn’t motivating me before the playoffs started.
“I already motivated myself so they were too late. And I’m pretty sure we all had the same mindset. And that’s why I came out and said before the playoffs started, ‘We’ve got each other.’ We’re not really worried about what nobody’s saying. Our opponent’s still gotta go through us between the lines. And I meant that.”
Everybody has exes
Just because he played two seasons plus a fraction of a third for the Bucks doesn’t mean that Greg Monroe feels any more animus than usual for his opponent.
“No, man. Y’all keep asking me that,” he said with more than a hint of agitation. “You know how many people are playing their old teams? It’s really really not a big deal. I know you guys want it to be, but it’s the playoffs. I’m pretty sure that no matter who anyone is playing at this point, they want to win. It don’t matter. It’s no more incentive. Either you win or go home. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing another team I’ve never played for. We lose the series, we go home. That’s just how it is. We want to win the series. We want to win every game.”
But Monroe’s time in the Bucks system as a reserve undoubtedly helped him when it was time to fit in with the Celtics, who use him the same way.
“They’re a little bit similar. Bigs play a lot through the elbow,” he said. “That’s probably the thing that’s most similar in both offenses. Bigs handle the ball a lot at the elbow. I think I’m being used pretty much the same way. There hasn’t been much of a difference in what they’ve asked me to do in Milwaukee and what they’ve asked me to do here now in Boston.”
Butler influence
Walter McCarty went heavy on the Butler influence when assembling his staff of assistant coaches at Evansville. Former Butler coach Todd Lickliter and former Butler player and assistant Matthew Graves joined McCarty with the Purple Aces.
Stevens insists he had no influence on McCarty’s choices.
“Not really,” he said. “Obviously he hired great, great, great assistants, who I believe in wholeheartedly. But I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries there.”