Celtics put Houston loss behind them
Frustrated by ‘tough, nasty’ Rockets
It hasn’t happened a lot lately, but put under the gun of James Harden, Russell Westbrook and the whistles that come with their unique attack, the Celtics lost their composure Tuesday night in Houston.
Maybe it’s simply that time of year, in the midst of the NBA dog days, said Brad Stevens.
“Maybe it’s just mid-February. You look across the league and see some of it,” said the Celtics coach. “But that’s part of it. I think you’re frustrated when you get beat, and they outplayed us. They were really good, made a bunch of tough shots, their two best players were awesome — probably would create some frustration. I thought our guys battled. We just need to be better. We can’t be as stagnant.”
Or as angry. Marcus Smart was openly frustrated in his post-game comments, demanding to be given the same respect as a first-team defender as Harden receives as, well, the greatest isolation scorer in the game.
Though he largely kept his frustration to himself, citing the need to keep his wallet closed, Kemba Walker, too, was frustrated by the lack of calls whenever he drove the paint. He only attempted three free throws. Harden and Westbrook alone combined for 31 free throw attempts. The Celtics as a team attempted 25.
“It’s always a touchy subject. But the referees have it tough, I think,” said Walker. “They try their best — as best as they can, I guess. It’s whatever. I’m just going to keep attacking.”
He’s also going to attempt a cap on his frustration, something that was a teamwide problem in Houston.
“Yeah, I’m not a type of player to play with frustration anyway,” said Walker. “I think that’s when I kind of have my worst games — when I am frustrated. So I’ve got to be more conscious of not letting things like that affect me. Especially me, because I’m one of the leaders of this team. I’m one of the guys that these guys look at. So when I get frustrated, it kind of trickles down to everybody. Everybody starts to get frustrated. So I’ve got to be better with not showing my frustration as much as I did (Tuesday night).”
Lesson learned, hopefully, said Jayson Tatum.
“It was a tough, nasty, game,” he said. “We tried to grind it out. It wasn’t pretty. Guys are competitive and want to win, so sometimes you show your emotions, but everybody in here just wants to win. That’s just part of it sometimes.”
Rookie Langford keeps his cool
Jaylen Brown’s return to the lineup — he intends to play tonight against the Clippers despite nursing two ankle sprains and, courtesy of a Westbrook knee, a calf contusion — has momentarily curtailed Romeo Langford’s crunch time experience.
But the mild-mannered rookie has shown a remarkable ability to maintain his sense of calm under combustible conditions.
“I’ve always wondered that, about the guys that don’t seem like they have a pulse when they’re walking around,” said Stevens. “That everything just kind of goes off their shoulder. But I’ve had a few guys like that over the years. And then you throw them in in huge, huge moments and they still don’t seem like they’re affected by it. And I mean that in a good way.
“So he’s done a good job in those two moments,” he said. “I don’t think he’s going to be overwhelmed by anything. He’s just got a lot of learning to do and a lot of growing to do. But he had a couple of defensive plays the other day that were really special. And then he made the huge three in the corner, the one that gave us a little bit of breathing room there.”
Walker getting healthy
Compared to Smart, Brown, Tatum and Gordon Hayward, who all played north of 30 minutes Tuesday, Walker’s 28 were low, by design. He’s still under a minutes restriction because of his sore knee, though he hopes the canopy gets lifted soon.
“I hope it’s over. I’m tired of it. It’s tough,” he said. “But you know, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Especially going into the break, getting more healthy. Hopefully after the break it will be over.”
In a close game like the one Tuesday, Walker’s patience can especially get tested when he’s on the bench.
“I’m antsy. I’m always antsy. It’s just what we’ve got to do right now,” he said. “It’s just what’s the best for me and my future.”
Defending Harden
Another lesson came out of Tuesday night’s loss in Houston. As everyone from Smart and Walker to Tatum realized, there’s no worse place to be on defense than when Harden gets you on a string.
The Houston star literally up-faked his way through the Celtics lineup.
“Yeah, we weren’t as good as we needed to be,” said Tatum. “It’s not easy being in that moment. Knowing not to jump on a shot fake, but you do it. We just gotta be better. There’s a lot of things that we gotta work on from this game, to learn from, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s one game. On to the next one.”