Stevens sticks with plan, for starters
Brad Stevens repeated himself last night, starting Aron Baynes for the second straight game and bringing
Gordon Hayward off the bench against the Knicks.
The Celtics coach admits the move — an adjustment designed to blend Hayward in with different combinations, and most notably forward Marcus Morris — could be considered counterintuitive. After all, the Celtics’ greatest need during their recent 3-6 slump wasn’t additional defense, which is what Baynes adds to the starters.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into those calls,” Stevens said. “If you looked at our rankings right now you’d say, ‘Why would you start a defender with the first group? Because the first group is guarding great and the second group’s guarding great.
“I think it allows guys to play on offense in their more natural positions and there’s a comfort level to that, and as we continue to try to grow and get to the best version of ourselves, we’re going to have to be able to play both ways,” the coach added. “We’re going to have to be able to play small. We’re going to have to be able to play big. But maybe guys can find a bit more of a flow to that.”
Stevens is instead looking for general improvement beyond who he happens to start on a given night.
“Over the course of the whole year, as far as numbers go it’s been pretty productive,” he said. “We can play better as a team and that’s our focus. A lot of time and energy can be spent talking about starters and bench, and we just have to talk about our team. Playing a little bit better on both sides of the ball — got closer to that on Monday (in Charlotte).”
Knicks change up
The Knicks could tell Stevens a thing or three about ever-changing lineups. Coach David Fizdale has used 12 different starting lineups since the start of the season, including a combination of Mario Hezonja, Noah Vonleh, Enes Kanter, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Emmanuel Mudiay that came close to beating Portland, the Western Conference leaders, Tuesday night in New York.
An almost entirely different Knicks starting lineup, save for Hardaway and Mudiay, surrendered a 44-31 first quarter lead during a blowout loss to Orlando two nights earlier.
“I wasn’t all that surprised last night, considering how the Orlando first quarter went and how they then came back with those guys,” Stevens said. “As coaches sometimes you don’t worry as much about who’s starting, instead of how can you play well. The Knicks played great last night. Barring a few layups not going in and Portland not making all those tough shots, they win the game.”
Tatum in groove
Celtics youth clearly got off to a slow start this season, though Jayson Tatum ,in particular, appears to be getting up to speed.
“Yeah, he’s attacking the basket more,” Stevens said. “If he attacks the basket, I think that the more we can get him attacking the basket, I think the more threat of going to the free throw line, the more a threat of drawing multiple defenders for kickouts, and I just think that opens up everything for everybody. He’s such a talented offensive guy that that’s a huge thing for us as a team, as you know. We haven’t been great in the paint and we certainly haven’t gotten to the line, so we need our most talented offensive people to be able to get there some.
“I think toward the end of the West Coast road trip and in the last few games, you could see that he’s really starting to make good strides.” Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown have also shown signs of breaking out.