Ainge not too concerned about slow start
OKLAHOMA CITY -- It’s far too early in the NBA season for concern, which is why Danny Ainge was willing to laugh and use a golf analogy when discussing the 2-2 mark the Celtics took into last night’s game against the Thunder. “There’s a lot of good things that are going on,” said the Celtics president of basketball operations. “We’re just not playing our best. And making shots covers up for a lot of mistakes. We’ve just been missing our 4-foot putts. We’ve got to make some putts.” As the Celtics took the court here, they were 28th in the NBA in shooting at 41.2 percent. While that’s something that no doubt will improve with time, the fact the C’s trailed the entire game at home against Orlando on Monday is no chuckling matter, early season or not. At times, the Celtics have played as if they’re not taking their opponent seriously enough. “I don’t think there’s an issue with urgency,” Ainge said. “I think our guys are playing really hard. There’s a lot of things coaches can find that’ll be wrong with what we did, but I feel like there is progress, and I think all the things that we’re doing not so good are fixable. “But at this time of the season as I’m watching all of the NBA games, it’s like making shots covers up for a lot of mistakes. So you’ve got to make shots, of course, but, you know, when you’re not making shots, your defense has to be almost perfect. Our defense was pretty good but not good enough.”
Baynes sits again
Aron Baynes remained out last night for a second game with a strained right hamstring, and coach Brad Stevens said his availability tomorrow night in Detroit is “hopeful, but nothing determined. I think that at best he’s 50-50 right now.” Baynes’ take? “It’s all on those guys,” he said. “I’m ready. I’m ready.” Told of his center’s comments, Stevens deadpanned, “Shocking. Yeah, Baynes wants to play all the time. He still tries to race people off the bus after a hamstring injury. But you love that part about him. He’s a competitive guy, he’s a fun guy, and it kills him to not be able to play.” But if Baynes isn’t going to be cautious with the injury suffered last Saturday in New York, the Celtics will handle that for him. Hamstring problems can linger. “No question,” said the coach. “And basketball is not a game where you can really script the directions you’re cutting and where you’re running and how hard you can go and everything else. There’s a lot of random movement, and being able to change direction quickly without thinking twice about its impact on you is really important. So I think that hamstring is something that we’re going to be very careful with. And when he comes back, I’m guessing he’ll be on a minutes restriction of some kind.”
Defense adjusts
The Celtics have had to adjust to the NBA’s new emphasis on allowing offen- sive players to move freely, and so far they’ve been doing well with the situation -- at least statistically overall, if not always in the moment. The C’s entered last night’s game giving up a best-in-the-league 98.5 points per game. “It’s an adjustment period,” Al Horford said. “There’s no question about it. It’s a huge adjustment that we all have to make, and it really challenges you. I remember going into the first game of the season, I’m like, ‘How am I going to guard this or do that?’ You’re worried about that stuff. We just all have to adjust.