Brad Stevens blasts Celtics’ effort: ‘We’re not playing as a team’
Before this week, the Celtics had started the 2015-16 season as one of the top rated defenses in the entire NBA.
You would never know it, however, if you listened to Brad Stevens speak about his team’s play on Tuesday night. The typically mild mannered head coach ripped into Boston’s defense after a 121-97 blowout loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Phillips Arena.
“We had this coming,’’ Stevens told reporters in Atlanta. “We haven’t played well in a few days now. Even when we beat Brooklyn at home we had [only one] good quarter. We had this coming. We’ll see how we respond to it.’’
Stevens’s outrage was understandable after he watched the Celtics allowed a season-high 121 points on 56.3 percent shooting from the field to the high-powered Hawks offense.
Boston also allowed 111 points in an upset loss to the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, and the team is now 0-6 in games allowing more than 100 points. The inconsistent effort has left Stevens looking for answers.
“We’ve got to be a team. And I think that’s first and foremost,’’ Stevens said. “It’s very subjective and it’s hard to pinpoint, but I know this: When your defense is a sieve, you’re not a team.’’
Players around the Boston locker room took notice of the uncharacteristic tone from Stevens but generally agreed with his assessment.
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The Celtics will need to regroup quickly, and they have a strong chance of doing so successfully when they face off with the winless Philadelphia 76ers at the TD Garden on Wednesday night.
“I think we have to reconnect,’’ Stevens said. “We’re not playing basketball as a team on either end of the floor. We’ve had good quarters that have masked our deficiencies and we need to get back to being a team, we need to get back in one direction.’’
Photos:Unbelieveable images from the old Boston Garden
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