On days like this one, basketball can feel almost inconsequential, but it’s still Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens’ job to prepare the Celtics for a second-round battle with the Raptors.
The Boston Celtics are slated to take on the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of their first-round series with their northern neighbors this Thursday, but the shooting of Jacob Blake has cast a pall over the league and caused players on both teams to consider boycotting the contest in response.
But Boston Head Coach Brad Stevens has the unwelcome task of preparing his team for a game that may not even occur, a prospect he alluded to when asked about Boston’s strategy with the Raptors’ pick and roll coverage Wednesday afternoon.
“Well,” he began, “it seems kind of inconsequential or meaningless, right?”
“Pick and roll angle is often dependent on the pick and roll defense the other team plays. How quickly you have to get out, how long you hold the screen is all dependent on the other team. Toronto mixes up their coverages; they’re excellent at that and keep you off balance … they’re comfortable taking risks because they play so hard, to make up for that … I just think that they’re very difficult to play against and so it’s not fair to say that every screen should be the same, or every screening angle should be the same, because it often depends on how it’s being guarded by both the guard and the big.”
“Or, in Toronto’s case, they put guards on the big a lot and switch,” he added.
The day before after practice, Stevens sung a similar tune with regards to how dangerous the Raptors are, and how much of that is due to how they operate as a franchise.
“We have a ton of respect for Toronto, just top to bottom organizationally. They’ve done an incredible job … drafting, developing, bringing in guys,” explained Stevens.
“Excellent run organization, beside [the] entire front office and … Nick, is tremendous.”
“He just puts people in positions to succeed and puts the opponent in bad positions over and over. I think there are a lot of people that I could have voted for for the Coach of the Year, but Nick got mine because I thought … the job he did all year was tremendous.”
“And then the players are really good,” offered the Celtics coach.
“I think [Kyle] Lowry is one of the most underrated players in the league,” praised Stevens of the Toronto veteran, currently questionable with an ankle sprain. “And he’s an All-star, but I think people just don’t understand how good he is.”
“They only look at oftentimes offensive highlights or whatever the case may be, and he has plenty of those; he’s an All-Star in that regard. He’s one of the best defenders in the league; he’s all over the place.”
Stevens was quick to note reserve point guard Fred Van Vleet has been outstanding for the team as well.
“We have a great deal of respect for them,” he added. “I just can’t say enough good things.”
If Game 1 actually happens, it’ll be a close, pitched battle between the East’s second and third seeds, their first postseason meeting in franchise history.
And if it doesn’t, it’ll be for reasons that belittle anything we can say about what Stevens regularly refers to as a “kid’s game.”
A game they are justifiably correct in feeling blessed to have an option to play given all else that is going on in the world right now.
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