NBA Notebook: The key to unlocking the Celtics' quest for postseason success

After months of good-but-far-from-great basketball play by the Boston Celtics, the picture of what a good Boston Celtics team looks like is starting to come into focus. 

And while there are many pieces to this puzzle, none looms any larger than Kemba Walker.

The more you see the Celtics play, the clearer it becomes that the way he goes, so too will Boston in terms of being a high-level, difference-making squad in the playoffs. 

And as the Celtics hit the final stretch of the regular season, Walker is emerging as the biggest wild card in their path towards unexpected success.

So it isn’t at all surprising that the month of April has been arguably the best month of basketball for both the Celtics and Walker, this season. While Walker has had better months scoring the ball than his 17.7 points per game average in April, his ability to chip in consistently in other areas is worth noting. 

Walker has a 118.5 offensive rating in April as well as a 3.29 assists-to-turner ratio, both better than any previous month this season for the four-time All-Star. 

As for the Celtics, their defensive rating in April is 106.5, with a net rating of plus-6.4 - both season-bests for a single month. 

Boston has also picked it up on the boards with .749 defensive rebounding percentage which ranks ninth in the league. To put that in perspective, Boston’s overall defensive rebounding percentage is .734 which ranks 18th in the NBA.

“I like where we’re headed,” Walker told reporters recently. “But like I always say, it’s on guys like myself and Jayson (Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown) and (Marcus) Smart; we gotta hold each other accountable, hold other guys accountable, just set the tone; that’s on us.”

 The non-offer, offer for Brad Stevens

It seemed like the perfect storm for the University of Indiana to bring one of its own back into the fold to revive a basketball program that has fallen upon hard times recently. Not only were there reports that the Indiana Hoosiers wanted Celtics coach (and Indiana native) Brad Stevens, but were reportedly willing to offer a seven-year, $70 million contract. 

And for the umpteenth time, Stevens addressed the speculation about him returning to the college ranks.

"First of all, I was never offered a package, so that's all news to me," he told reporters shortly before the Celtics played the Chicago Bulls this week. "Secondly, I wasn't going to leave anyways. And the reason being is because this place, regardless of it was a pro organization or college, has been so good to our family, so good to me. And we owe them, especially in the middle of a very trying season that is, you know, right in the middle of a pandemic, we owe them to stay the course. And so I don't know how long I'm going to coach. I don't know how long I'm going to coach in the NBA. I don't know how long they'll want me to coach in the NBA. I don't know what I'll do after that. Maybe I'll figure out something new, but right now I am thrilled to be the Celtics head coach. It is a great challenge and a great responsibility. And so, you know, try to minimize all the distractions around that but, you know, I was never offered that so I don't know where that came."

Fournier returns … sort of

The official box score said Evan Fournier was back against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday after having missed the previous nine games due to Health and Safety Protocols. But the box score - zero points on 0-for-7 shooting - told a much different story. 

There were the obvious missed shots and the not-so-obvious missed assignments at both ends of the floor that made Fournier’s first game back after the long layoff, a game he would just as soon forget. 

Fournier acknowledged the challenges he faced physically while dealing with a slew of Covid-19 related symptoms.

"Where do I start? The first two days I was doing great, no symptoms at all,” Fournier said. “And then flu-like symptoms, high fever, really tired, fatigue, all that. I honestly stayed in bed and slept for four or five days. The roughest part was ramping up the activity. The last two days of practice was really hard. I had moments where I was doing good and moments where I was exhausted.”

That up-and-down feeling was evident in his play against the Nets. Of the miscues in his return to play, none loomed as large as the defensive mishap he had in the fourth quarter with the Celtics trailing by just three points at the time. 

As the Celtics defense rotated late in the shot clock, he briefly left Joe Harris to help out defensively against Blake Griffin. 

Harris made the Celtics pay with a three-pointer, and Brooklyn’s control of the game remained strong as ever for the rest of the game. 

Fournier and the Celtics agree the best way for him to get back to impacting the game positively, is to just play. 

"Yeah, he's going to probably, very likely at least, going to struggle, and we just don't have time to practice," said Stevens. "He's got to play, he's got to get himself up to speed.”

Pierce is still winning 

Shortly after Celtics great Paul Pierce was fired by ESPN when an Instagram video with him surrounded by exotic dancers went viral, he tweeted out a message about always winning. 

https://twitter.com/paulpierce34/status/1379259811041177601

It wasn’t clear what he was talking about at the time, but this might be it. 

Pierce recently sold his Calabasas mansion for $8.7 million after having reportedly paid $6.5 million for it in 2009. 

Located in the prestigious, double-gated Estates at the Oaks community, Pierce’s now-former home featured eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms along with a Celtics-themed bowling alley as well as a basketball court with the Celtics logo, a movie theatre, billiards room, and bar as part of the 16,000-square foot property.

Celtics remember Terrence Clarke

The Boston Celtics were among those deeply impacted by the death of 19-year-old Terrence Clarke.

Clarke, one of the top prep players a year ago who declared for the NBA draft after one season at Kentucky, was killed in a car accident on Thursday. 

The 19-year-old from Dorchester had befriended a number of Boston Celtics players and was someone the coaching staff was familiar with not only because of his ties to the area, but also the bonds that formed between him and current Celtic players. 

Jaylen Brown was among the Celtics players who had taken a liking to Clarke, with Brown serving as a mentor of sorts to the promising Clarke who would have likely been a first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft. 

Brown posted a moving message about Clarke on his Instagram account, urging the NBA to make a ceremonial selection of Clarke.

“... I hate the most the world didn’t even get to see how much potential you really had,” read Brown’s message. “I hate you left with that on you.”