Stevens says ‘curveballs’ have changed face of rivalry

Asked Sunday to reflect on last season’s Eastern Conference finals loss to the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he is spending too much time trying to hit curveballs to consider any touches of nostalgia.

“First of all,” he said ahead of the teams’ meeting at TD Garden, “our team is not the same. Their team is not the same, either. They’ve lost some guys, added some guys. They’re different. But our team is definitely not last year’s team.

“So I think we have never, inside these walls, felt that way, right? And I think that ultimately we’ve got to find the best versions of ourselves in a new season with a new team. And we’ve had challenges doing that along the way.”

Stevens’ response came after a question about whether these past two pandemic-altered seasons have seemed like a run-on sentence, with such a short break between and 2020-21 opening on Dec. 22.

“And so I don’t look at it as necessarily one continuous season,” he said. “It’s been well documented, we thought it was going to start January. Kemba [Walker] sat for a while.

“That was a curveball that we’ve had to hit. But everybody’s had to hit curveballs this year. The Heat have, too. The Heat have missed a lot of games with a lot of their players.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra similarly said Sunday that not only do last season’s East finals feel like a distant memory, but so does the Heat’s pandemic-cancelled Jan. 10 game scheduled for Boston, which instead was added to this week’s schedule.

“We’re not even thinking about what the teams were like last year,” he said. “That feels like five years ago. Even being in the hotel room last night, from earlier in the year, when the game was cancelled, that felt like two seasons ago. And that has happened during the season for us. We’ve changed quite a bit.

“I think we’ve really just embraced all the great competition that’s come from this season. It’s been unique. And I think it’s been a great challenge to try to figure this all out.”

As he did during last season’s playoffs, Stevens expressed great respect for the Heat.

“They’re as deep a team as there is in the East, with really good players,” he said. “They’re obviously exceptionally well coached. They do a lot of good things.

“You start with [Bam] Adebayo and [Jimmy] Butler. When you start thinking who could be off the bench for them in a playoff series, and how many different variations of ways they can play . . . if they peak and hit at the right time, which it looks like they will, both with their play and with their health, they’re going to be a real handful.”

Injury updates

With the teams also playing Tuesday at TD Garden, Stevens was asked about the prognosis for forward Jaylen Brown, who was held out of Sunday’s game due to a sprained right ankle.

“We’ll just have more information [Monday] and we’ll figure it out from there,” he said.

The Celtics also are monitoring the turf toe of center Robert Williams.

“In a lot of cases, it’s going to be how it feels,” Steven said. “When you hear the phrase ‘turf toe,’ unless you’ve had it, you may not realize how much discomfort that can be. I’ve had it. It’s obviously not enjoyable. A lot of it will be day to day.”

The Heat had listed forward Andre Iguodala as questionable for Sunday’s game, due to a bruised right quadriceps suffered late in Friday night’s home victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he was cleared to play two hours before tipoff.

The lone player unavailable for the Heat was guard Victor Oladipo, who remained in Miami, missing his 16th consecutive game due to a sore right knee.