Irving’s defense runs afoul with referees
DENVER — Kyrie Irving has focused on becoming a better defender.
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
And while the Celtics guard has been noticeably active in the defensive end, he’s also fallen prey to calls, with NBA officials bearing down on most kinds of contact this season. Irving’s three-foul first half Saturday night in Indiana effectively limited his first half role in a tight loss. But Irving isn’t worried. “Nah, nah. You just have to be smarter. That’s all. Just be smarter,” Irving said yesterday. “That’s all. Just find the plays that can be made on the defensive end, but also just managing it better.”
He understands, for example, that teams will try even more off switches to isolate him in the post against bigger players. The ploy worked for the Pacers.
“I didn’t feel like it was targeting. I think (Bojan) Bogdanovic is a good player, but he’s not that strong of a postup player. I think that he definitely tried it at first,” Irving said. “And when I first took that first bump I was like, ‘I’m giving it back.’ And then I took one hard foul. And in the back of my mind I should have just been more conscious of what the next play was going to happen.
“Even if it wasn’t a primary play for them I knew they were going to try to attack me to get that second. But once I got my third, that was just being unfocused. So just being more conscious of that.”
Irving, who blamed himself for Saturday’s loss after missing a layup just prior to Victor Oladipo’s game-winning 3-pointer, believes he has to do a better overall job managing the game.
“By seeing where you can take advantage of the specific possessions where you kind of just let them go — where it was just a one-pass shot or no-pass shot, or early in the shot clock where the ball should be moving,” he said. “And when you get into a tough road environment that becomes a point of emphasis of just taking care of the possessions that you need throughout the game. So just being a better manager of the game.”
Coach praises IT
Isaiah Thomas, hood pulled over his head to be discreet, visited the Celtics locker room prior to last night’s game.
Asked if, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he was planning to return to the Denver roster next month, he nodded, smiled and said, “for sure.”
After reading comments from Brad Stevens about the point guard’s time as a Celtic, Thomas tweeted out love for his former coach. Like Denver coach Mike Malone, who also coached Thomas in Sacramento, the Celtics coach will always be one of IT’s favorites. Both men scored high with Thomas because of their willingness to let him play his game.
According to Malone, Thomas is now bringing a familiar quality to the Nuggets locker room.
“Just leadership,” Malone said. “Obviously my history with Isaiah, coaching him in Sacramento, the relationship that we have, even while he’s not playing, he’s still had a profound impact on our players. His voice, his leadership in huddles during games and practices and in the locker room. He brings that energy and a voice and a leadership we sorely miss.”
Brown still sore
Jaylen Brown has been dealing with soreness in the top of his right foot, and not having much luck with the orthotic device inserted into his sneaker to boot.
So he changed devices again. “The orthotics kind of hurt, they took the pressure off of where it was supposed to, but they added pressure to where it wasn’t supposed to, so it was kind of hurting my feet,” he said, “but I’m gonna stay on top of it and go back to the other ones. ”