The Boston Celtics play the Houston Rockets for the third and likely final time this season for their third and definitely final scrimmage exhibition this Tuesday night, but veteran Celtics guard Marcus Smart doesn’t anticipate too much change to come down the pike from head coach Brad Stevens.
“Brad is Brad,” opined the Flower Mound native.
And truthfully, that makes sense.
By now, the team should know the strengths and weaknesses of its roster, save for some second unit exploration to see who might be the best postseason rotation candidates.
The small and quick Rockets ought to be an excellent test of the team’s response to frequent lapses in their transition defense in the first two scrimmage contests.
Preview: Boston Celtics vs. Houston Rockets scrimmage No. 3 https://t.co/wiCbE7dL73
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) July 28, 2020
But it’s not as if Boston is unclear how to run a good transition defense, especially at this late hour.
“Brad’s a great coach, great coaches find out ways to keep their teams motivated,” explained Smart. “They find out ways to adjust on the fly. And that’s what he’s been doing. Everything has been unconventional for here; it’s hard … being Brad, he’s being cool calm and collected.”
It would be easy to blow the scrimmage games out of proportion, particularly as the collective belief of where the team was at collided with the reality on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But the blowout loss was really more indicative with comfort and familiarity with their novel situation and getting in the needed reps in a live game situation much less than a fundamental flaw materializing at what is for all intents and purposes about the five-sixths mark of a season.
“[Stevens is] keeping us cool, calm and collected and really getting us ready, and he hasn’t really changed anything; he just stays the same,” added Smart.
How to watch: Houston Rockets vs. Boston Celtics scrimmage 3 of 3 https://t.co/MVnPm6liFN
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) July 28, 2020
Asked how the team manages to balance endeavors like their commitment to racial justice with basketball goals like winning a banner, the Oklahoma State product didn’t hesitate.
“We’re professionals, and with that comes a lot of responsibility. So you have be able to multitask — we have a lot of distractions going on around us. We’re still got some things that we’re fighting for but at the same time, we’re still here to play and here to win a championship and I think that everybody knows.”
“That’s the main goal — it’s to get there,” he added.
“I think for us as a young team with an experienced coach like Brad and some experienced players, it makes it easy for us to compartmentalize and really, really stay focused on being a professional, and that’s handling your responsibilities and duties off the court as well as on the court.”
The Celtics have been at the forefront of using their restart media interactions to continue to shine light on ongoing racial injustice issues in the U.S. — this and most pressers with Boston players begin with a call for justice for Breonna Taylor as just one example.
WATCH: Jayson Tatum's highlights vs Phoenix Suns (16 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast) https://t.co/MD6OHl6SuZ
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) July 28, 2020
There is little reason to believe that participating in the fight for racial equity should be in any way an impediment to basketball success.
Though the ongoing unrest over civil rights in this country certainly must take an emotional toll.
And so must being in an isolated space not only from the rest of that struggle but one’s family as well; luckily for the Celtics, they have players like Smart who are comfortable walking the line that ties together those two parts of their lives as much as it seems to divide that of others.
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