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“He was fed up with us,” Smart said.
The Celtics, the favorites to win the Eastern Conference this season, have hardly looked the part during their 1-2 start to this preseason. And the sloppy beginning was enough to irritate Stevens. He made no secret of it when his news conference began, either.
“I couldn’t be more unimpressed after our first three exhibition games,” he said.
Stevens said that his team’s defense has been “a sieve.” When he was asked what areas he would like to see improvement defensively, he replied: “Pretty much everything. I mean, we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s pretty clear.”
I’m not worried one bit about the Celtics performance this preseason. It’s not because I’m in denial about the defense, it’s because I know Brad Stevens and Al Horford will fix it.
I also know that Marcus Smart will choke out any player who doesn’t play hard on the defensive end.
Don’t waste another moment thinking about it. Seriously.
Our guy Jeremy wants to talk about the officiating for just a moment. There were 60 fouls called last night and roughly 50 in each of their first two games in what I can only assume is an effort by the league to kill the pace of preseason games and prevent injuries. It’s not the worst idea, but it makes for some pretty miserable basketball games, at least for some stretches. Hopefully, the officials and the Celtics will loosen up when the games start to matter.
Related link: Mass Live – Jaylen Brown not panicking | Morris worried about getting ejected
On Page 2, Ty Lue gushes over Jayson Tatum.
Tyronn Lue was suitably impressed, and as curious as anyone else about the Celtics forward’s next step.
“I don’t see the ceiling right now, playing the way he did and getting experience in the playoffs,” the Cavaliers coach said. “Taking that next step, this summer working with Kobe (Bryant) on his footwork and post skills. He has no offensive weakness. He’s a lot like Kyrie (Irving) offensively, in that he can do everything. He’s going to continue to get better, continue to mature. He’ll be able to shoot on top of guys. But there’s no ceiling for him right now.”
No offensive weakness? Someone get me a towel…
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