Steve Kerr predicts the Celtics will be ‘at the top of the East for a long time to come’
Is it too early to call Thursday night's game a preview of this year's NBA Finals?
The two best records in the NBA will go head-to-head on Thursday night, as 13-2 Celtics take on the 11-3 Warriors at the TD Garden.
Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr — who has previously called Celtics head coach Brad Stevens “one of the best in the league” — said on Tuesday that he expects the matchup to be “really fun.”
“They’re really sound, and they’re motivated,” Kerr said, via ESPN’s Chris Haynes. “Even without Gordon Hayward and that awful injury, Boston is just crushing people. So, it’s going to be really fun to go against them on Thursday. We know how tough it’s going to be.”
The two teams have split their last four meetings, with neither able to defend home court. The Celtics beat the Warriors, 99-86, at Oracle Arena in March; however, Boston’s roster has since drastically changed. The team retained just four members of their group from last season. Among the changes, perhaps the biggest addition is that of point guard Kyrie Irving.
“I just think it’s his team,” Kerr said. “In Cleveland, he was such a dominant force, but it was always going to be LeBron’s team. It just looks like Kyrie knows it’s his group, and he’s thriving with that group of players around him.”
“It just seems like the next stage in his development,” he continued, echoing what Irving had expressed when explaining his decision to join the Celtics. “He knew what he was doing when he decided to leave. I admire Kyrie. Obviously, he’s been a thorn in our side for years, and now he just happens to wear green.”
As a member of the Cavaliers, Irving faced off against the Warriors in three straight NBA Finals. And Kerr thinks that his new team has just as good a shot at contending for a title, too.
“It sure looks like Boston is the team of the future in the East, with the assets that they still have and their young talent and their coaching, and Kyrie is amazing,” he said. “That looks like a team that is going to be at the top of the East for a long time to come. Whether their time is now or the future, that’s to be determined, but they sure look like they want it to be right now.
“They want to win a championship, and it looks like it.”
