Stevens’ schedule adjustment about time

MIAMI — With some 1,260 miles to be covered between Hanscom Field in Bedford and here for the second half of a back-toback, the Celtics were looking for any bit of help they could get. They found a half-hour of it in a plan suggested by Brad Stevens in the offseason. While Celtics’ home games usually begin at 7:30 p.m., unless altered by ESPN or TNT needs, the coach got the club to move home games on the first night of a back-to-back to 7 p.m. Celtics home games traditionally began at 7 on all nights except Friday, when they were at 7:30. But the starts were all changed to 7:30 after the team said it did a survey of season ticket-holders. Now Stevens has carved out a concession from the policy. “I think the longer you’re in it, you realize that if you can save 30 minutes anywhere, especially on those travel days, you try to,” the coach said. “And as long as it’s not being dictated by national TV, it’s something we wanted to do. “We talked about it, and we had lengthy discussions, because it’s important that we, first and foremost, put out the best product that we can here and make it as convenient for our fans as possible. So I think it’s more of an exploratory thing that we’re trying. But saving 30 minutes is saving 30 minutes.” Asked if he got any resistance to the request, Stevens said, “I mean, we talked a lot about it, but we understand the different factors. But in this case, this is a long trip on a back-to-back. So ones like this are really important probably.” The Celtics made the return of R.J. Hunter official, signing the 2015 first-round draft pick (No. 28 overall) to a two-way contract. After being waived in October 2016 just before his second season (the Celts kept James Young), he’s gone on to stints with Chicago, Houston and five G-League clubs. “It’s a neat story,” said Stevens. “I think one of the toughest things that I’ve been a part of over the last six years was when we had those 16 guaranteed contracts in the fall and we had to make a decision on one, and we ultimately had to waive R.J. — because we thought he was a high upside player that had really gotten better, that was going to work hard to be better. So I think we’re all really excited that we’re able to have him back. He’ll be up in Maine as he gets re-transitioned to us, but I’m sure he’ll spend whatever time he can with us, as well. So we’re excited to have him.” As for what’s different about Hunter this time around as a 25-year-old, the coach said, “Well, I think the biggest thing — and you can just kind of look at his stats from the G-League the last couple of years — but he always was a guy that really knew how to play. I thought he got better defensively in our time. And then he’s really been knocking down shots. So he’s never going to be the strongest guy in the world, but he is stronger than probably people give him credit for, and he can use that length and his mind to really affect the game on the defensive end. And then on the offensive end, if he’s making shots, he’s a really hard guy to guard because I think probably his best attribute offensively is passing off actions. So the shot-making really opens that up, and he’s been making them for the last two years.”