Billy Donovan enjoys coaching Corey Brewer again
BOSTON — Billy Donovan has gotten a rare reunion late this season, the opportunity to coach one of his former Florida players in the NBA.
And the Thunder coach is enjoying his time with Corey Brewer.
But he remains fond of the former Florida stars he coaches against, too. And that’s especially true of Al Horford, the Celtics center Donovan and Oklahoma City met Tuesday night at TD Garden.
“He was an unbelievable defender when he was in college,” Donovan said before Tuesday’s game. “The best I ever was around — one of the best. Go back
to his junior year, we’re playing Ohio State and I put (Joakim) Noah on Greg
Oden. And (Horford’s) out there guarding guards.”
So Donovan isn’t surprised that Horford is one of the NBA’s best frontcourt defenders.
Nobody much disputes that.
The issue some Celtics fans have with Horford comes at the other end of the court.
Though he’s a versatile, skilled offensive player, Horford’s numbers are relatively pedestrian for a center earning $27.7 million this season. He averages 12.8 points per game, the lowest number he’s posted since 2011-12.
Horford never averaged more than 13.2 points per game at Florida, where he and Brewer won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA titles under Donovan.
“There’s no doubt in my mind he could have averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds,” Donovan said. “We would have never won a national championship. And that’s the thing with him. He can go out there and score more points, but he also understands that may not be best for their team.”
Stevens praises Westbrook
Before Tuesday’s game, Boston coach Brad Stevens was asked how to game plan for Thunder guard Russell Westbrook.
He didn’t mince words in his assessment of the guard, who last season averaged 41 points, 11.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists against the Celtics.
“He is very skilled, clearly, extremely competitive and the best athlete I’ve ever seen,” Stevens said. “You cross your fingers, you talk to people and you know you’re not going to get any answers from them either. You pray a little bit and throw as many bodies at him as you can. He’s hard to guard and the thing I’ve always appreciated about Russell is that its competitiveness that makes him an MVP-level player. He has got all the intangibles that very few people have, but it’s that competitiveness.”
Bench issues
In the first half of Sunday’s win at Toronto, the Thunder bench was run off the floor by the Raptors reserves, outscored 27-7.
Toronto got 30 more bench points in the second half, but OKC’s backups put up more of a fight, scoring 16.
In the first half Tuesday at Boston, the bench was back to struggling. Thunder reserves scored six firsthalf points against the Celtics, shooting a combined 2 for 6. Jerami Grant had both made field goals, shooting 2 for 2 and scoring four points. Patrick Patterson made a pair of free throws.
The Celtics, with a rotation out of whack due to injuries to its top two scorers, Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown, got 13 first-half bench points. Six of those came from backup center