Just like the rest of us as pandemic restrictions are eased, the Boston Celtics are finally starting to enjoy a little bit of normalcy in their lives.
They’ve had time to rest, practice, and regroup after their Game 1 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. A loss that 14,391 fans witnessed, by far the biggest crowd for a Celtics game this season.
“It was really interesting,” Brad Stevens said. “As coaches were just allowed -- just the head coaches -- take the mask off right then you look up in the crowd behind us and everybody's got their mask off and all of a sudden it's just all flipped.”
While it might seem counterintuitive, having more people in the stands didn’t hurt Stevens ability to communicate with his team. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
“I think it’s easier—for whatever reason, maybe it’s just better comfort level, but I think it’s easier to communicate with a lot of people in there and no mask than it is with a mask on,” Stevens said. “That’s why, as much as we all didn’t want to, that’s why you saw us pull it down on our chins and not have it on all the time. It was tough to communicate at times.”
The clearer communication, some added rest, and a chance to clean up a season’s worth of slippage and prepare for Brooklyn seems to have at least reversed some of Boston’s worst habits.
“We've had some good practices. I thought the Friday before the end of the regular season was our best practice of the year. I thought the Monday after that was better than that one,” Stevens said. “And we continued that trend, which is what you want when you're a part of the team. You want to have your best moments and be at your best engagement level when your best is needed, and our guys have certainly been very engaged.
“Now, we’ve got to be able to take that to the court tomorrow. I thought we did a really good job defensively doing that, but they will adjust and present all kinds of unique new challenges. That's just part of the playoffs, and we've got to be a lot better on the other end.”
The players are clearly getting some extra juice out of this new (old) normal. Trae Young’s reaction to the Madison Square Garden crowd after his game-winner lifted the Atlanta Hawks over the New York Knicks tells you all you need to know about how much a player loves performing in front of fans no matter where they play. The rush of silencing a road crowd or pumping up a home crowd is unparalleled, and players are anxious to get that full experience back.
“It was fun here in Barclays to have fans in the arena, especially during the playoffs,” Tristan Thompson said. “I hope our governor can see how important having 75% (capacity) in the arena can definitely help.”
The Garden will actually have nearly full capacity for Game 4, but the amount of fans for Game 3 is still somewhat up in the air. The Celtics announced increased capacity for that first home playoff game, but they didn’t announce a specific number. According to state guidelines, they’d be allowed 25, or somewhere around 4,700 fans. There may be some lobbying going on to increase that considering the state’s dropping of capacity restrictions hours after the game ends.
“It gives us energy and it gives us life, and that's what makes Boston and TD Garden so special, that the fans are so close and on top of you and they have that energy that can really ignite our team,” Thompson said. “We just need some f****** fans in the arena, that's what we need. We need that, I want to experience that, that's why I came here. That's what we need, it will be good for us.”
GETTING EVAN FOURNIER GOING
Fournier’s 3-10 shooting night was unacceptable on multiple levels. The Celtics need him to take, and make, more shots as he tries to fill the sizable gap left by Jaylen Brown’s season-ending wrist surgery.
And he knows it.
“I have to do a better job at maybe creating more actions, having more energy on the floor and just be more available,” he said. “So I watched the film and I’m going to try to do better things tomorrow night.”
Brooklyn baited the Celtics into a lot of isolation play with their switching on defense. The Celtics did not do some of the simple things that work against switches.
“When teams are switching, there's someone out there you can take advantage of,” Thompson said. “But instead of just isolating them and having the defense set at the boxes and elbows, try to get them in second actions where they're going to have multiple efforts, I think that's the best way to try to attack the switch.”
Translated from basketball to English, going one-on-one lets the other four defenders just kind of stand there in position to help. The Celtics need to force Brooklyn to make decisions with ball movement and cuts. The more decisions a questionable defensive team has to make, the more likely they are to make the wrong one.
“In the first half, we got away with it because we made shots,” Thompson said “We have to keep moving the ball, keep sharing the rock, and we can take advantage of those matchups we are looking for.”
Fournier will be the beneficiary of that kind of effort. The Celtics have spent these past two practices making their adjustments, so Fournier needs to find his opportunities and become a much bigger threat if the Celtics want to pull off an upset.
“It’s all on me; I have to do a better job finding my rhythm and finding opportunities within the offense and with the flow of the offense,” he said. “Maybe be more active on the boards so that we can push the ball in transition. Just find ways to help, you know?”
JAYLEN BROWN STILL AROUND
You may have noticed on the game broadcast that Brown is with the team in Brooklyn, barking out advice and support from the bench.
“He’s around, so that’s good,” Stevens said. “He’s here and I think he’s going through all his whatever he can do, which is pretty minimal. But he’s really engaged with the group and spending a lot of time with everybody and everything else. He’s like that, he wants to be around.”
While the media no longer has any access to the practice floor during the pandemic, it’s a safe bet that Brown has picked up a basketball and taken a one-handed shot or two.
ROBERT WILLIAMS “SHOULD BE READY”
Williams gutted his way through turf toe to nearly drop a triple-double in Game 1, with 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 blocked shots. Afterward he admitted it’s mostly a matter of dealing with the pain, and Boston is trying everything they can to make that happen while keeping him ready.
“Rob’s doing pretty well,” Stevens said. “We’re trying to keep him off his feet as much as possible on these days away from the game. But he was dressed and went through more of the walkthrough portion of practice. Should be ready to go tomorrow.”
GOODBYE “RED CLAWS”
The Maine Red Claws announced a name change on Monday morning, taking the name of their parent club and becoming the “Maine Celtics.”
“When we purchased the Maine franchise in 2019, we immediately made that organization a part of our family,” Boston Celtics President Rich Gotham said in a press release. “The decision to rename the team to ‘Maine Celtics’ is the next step in that evolution, and a nod to our diehard fan base, which extends throughout the great state of Maine.”
The Maine Celtics are one of 25 G League teams now fully owned by their parent club. That allows the team to use all aspects of the team as a training ground, including coaches and executive staff.
The team did not participate in the G League bubble this season. They will resume this upcoming season playing at the Portland Expo.