Celtics' Brad Stevens: No Moral Victories, We Just Have To Get Better
BOSTON – After a demoralizing first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, in which the Celtics squandered a 19 point-lead, the hosts still had chance to salvage a win in the game's closing seconds.
Trailing by just one point with a chance for Brad Stevens to draw up an offensive set out of a timeout is a situation most Celtics fans would have taken prior to the contest.
Unfortunately, the team's final play call painfully turned into a disaster, as Rondo failed to get a shot off as time expired, allowing LeBron James and Co. to escape town with a win.
Much of the emphasis from Boston's disappointing loss Friday night has been placed on Rondo's shoulders for that play, but that kind of criticism misses the bigger picture.
To put it bluntly, there is no way the Celtics should have been in that position in the first place Friday night. The hosts surrendered a 38-point fourth quarter to the Cavaliers, continuing a stretch of recent games when the team's defense has fallen apart in the final quarter.
Stevens knows his young team needs to make some big fixes on that end of the floor if they want to have a chance to close out these type of games against elite opponents moving forward.
"We just have to play better defensively," Stevens said Sunday at practice. "Whatever your responsibility is as a player, you have to be there every single time. We just have to be better in our technique and multiple effort on every single play. It's easier said than done."
That responsibility has become lost at times for the Celtics in recent late games. As opposing offenses continue to score on multiple trips in a row against Boston's undersized defense, frustration has started to mount and breakdowns become more frequent. Jared Sullinger tried to explain his team's struggles in that respect.
"I think the energy, the pop that we have normally when we're playing well [can be affected]," he said. "They hit a couple shots our energy gets down a little bit. We just got to have that pop [on the defensive end]."
In order to respond to that kind of adversity, Stevens sounded like the pro football coach in town when asked about what he's been working with on his players for those kinds of situations.
"We all have a job to do, and the hardest thing is to focus on that job without emotion." Stevens said. "Things are going really well, you've got to focus on the task without emotion. If things are going really poorly and it feels like the weight of the world is falling on your shoulders, focus on what your job is and do it well. That's easier said than done, but that's our emphasis as we move forward. It should be something that we're doing anyway."
The challenge starts tonight as another offensive juggernaut in the Phoenix Suns arrive at the TD Garden. Like Boston, their emphasis is pushing the ball on each and every possession for quick shots. Rajon Rondo knows the Celtics have to limit that quick strike nature of the Suns offense in order to help the defense get back on track.
"I do believe we have to get back on defense because we're giving up a lot of points in transition," he said. "That was a big emphasis in practice. You don't need to attack off the glass as much. It's going to take away from some of our aggressiveness on the glass, but scoring the ball isn't our problem. It's getting defensive stops in transition."
The bottom line is that while the Celtics have been an early season surprise, their lack of defense has limited the team's success in the win-loss column. Stevens isn't satisfied by the progress on one end, as the team has to round into form on both ends of the floor.
"One point not good enough," Stevens noted reflecting on the Cavs loss. "It is what it is. There's no moral victories, we can't talk about learning. We've got to just get better. We've got to do it. And I think that that's where we all are. We can't get frustrated with it, we can't lose sight of the fact that we're eight games in and not 70 games in, but the good news is there is a belief growing, but it's got to be rounded out."
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
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