The Celtics return home Monday for a seven-game home stand, their longest of the season with the added bonus of having fans in the Garden for the first time. They’ll need it, figures Brad Stevens.
“I don’t know how many teams have played more road games than us. I certainly feel it, personally, And certainly this has been a tough stretch,” Stevens said of the four-game road trip that ended in a 111-94 win in Oklahoma City Saturday night. “But I think that guys will welcome the opportunity to sleep in their own bed and get into a routine at home. It will be nice to be at home, get a chance to sleep in our own beds, see our families, and hopefully build a little bit with a little bit less bouncing all over the place.”
With Kemba Walker out for load management purposes and the newest Celtics weapon, Evan Fournier, suddenly in health and safety protocol, the Celtics had to fight off a late winter chill to push their record back to .500.
With newcomer Luke Kornet supplying back-to-back 3-pointers and a block in the fourth quarter, and Jayson Tatum finally beating the cold with a fourth quarter breakout in his 27-point performance, the Celtics beat the Thunder for their second straight win.
The Celtics put this one away with a 22-2 fourth-quarter run that included their first lead of the night, thus finishing their last road trip for two weeks at 2-2.
But Stevens also had to send his starters a message. One night after arguably their biggest win of the season in Milwaukee, the Celtics got off to one of those familiar low-energy starts. Stevens pulled every starter, save for Marcus Smart, and began liberally subbing in players like Carsen Edwards, Aaron Nesmith and yes, Tacko Fall. Kornet, who as it turns out the Celtics have liked for quite some time because of his shooting, would play a big fourth-quarter role.
They also salvaged some pride, considering that with Al Horford benched for the season and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hurt, the Celtics were playing a young lineup that, while hungry, was the equivalent of a G-League unit.
But when Thunder center Moses Brown erupted for a 17-point, 19-rebound first half ,Stevens knew it was time to experiment.
“They were ready. We talked about it in great detail, and (assistant coach) Brandon Bailey did a great job with the scout, and then it’s a bigger onus on everyone to get prepared when they’re playing guys they haven’t played as much before,” said the Celtics coach. “But they had played games with Al (Horford) two of their last three games, so we had seen those. And we were ready, I just thought the energy was low, and it’s not a shock right? I don’t mean to make excuses, but this was quite a stretch and so this is a good example of you need to pick me up from your bench, you need to pick me up from people that haven’t played as much. Our bench gave us a chance and then everybody else followed suit after that.”
Trade deadline was the same old, same old for Marcus Smart: Danny Ainge told Smart over the last two weeks that he was not being offered to other teams — instead it was the other teams that kept asking about the Celtics point guard — and with that assurance Smart rode out the turbulence of trade deadline time.
“I think any time you hear your name in trade talks, you prepare for the worst. You pray for the best, but prepare for the worst,” said Smart. “This is seven years in for me. My name’s been in trade talks every year. So it’s nothing new. It’s a business. And sometimes we get so attached to guys and players and teammates, to this organization, that we forget that. But we’re human. Especially when you’ve been in one place for a very long time and your name comes up in trade rumors, you’re definitely, like I said, just preparing for anything to happen. I wasn’t really concerned, but I was prepared.”
Luke Kornet was on the radar: Though he’s played mostly in the G-League systems of the Knicks and Bulls during his four seasons in the NBA, the Celtics maintained an interest in him.
“Luke’s obviously a guy who can shoot the ball. We’ve been really intrigued with Luke for a long time because of his pick-and-roll defense,” said Stevens. “He’s always in good position. He’s long, he affects shots at the rim, he’s a guy we’ve always had an interest in because of those two things. Brown was dominating us in the first half, and even at the start of the second had some plays, and we felt we had to spread them out a little bit with shooting. That’s why we went with Luke, and I thought he was really good on both ends.”
Semi Ojeleye to miss approximately 10 days with a strained oblique muscle: Stevens doesn’t expect his Swiss Army knife forward back for awhile.
“He’ll be out for 10 days. He’s got a small, I don’t know if it was a contusion or a small, small tear in that oblique,” said the Celtics coach. “It’s not as bad as Smart’s was two years ago when he got it in the playoffs but still nonetheless we’re going to have him out for a couple of weeks.”
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Celtics close out road trip with 111-94 win over OKC - Boston Herald
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