Boston Celtics Coach Brad Stevens has a simple policy regarding players who criticize him – and there have been a few this season.

Put your name on it, is all he asks. So when a frustrated Kyrie Irving criticized the way the team guarded Kemba Walker during Saturday night’s loss in Charlotte – without any help or trapping – Stevens was all ears.
He even sounds like he’ll put Irving’s complaint to good use.

“There’s a lot of things that I can do better and I’ll try to do that,” Stevens said before Sunday night’s loss against San Antonio. “I’ve got no problem with it. I said what (Marcus) Morris said earlier, say it, say it, and put your name on it, right? Doesn’t bother me. I think that’s all part of it.
“From my standpoint, I go back after every game and look and see what I could have done better, first and foremost,” he said. “Clearly when you have a 26-5 run against you, prior to those free throws being shot, there’s a lot of things that went wrong. Seven of those 26 points came in isolation, where Kemba was isolated on our wings.

“And I certainly understand that there are times where that’s something to think about, it’s something to do. There were obviously a lot of other points in there. I was really disappointed in myself that I couldn’t do a better job of helping us get better shots. I think, ultimately, when I go back and look at it, those seven points hurt us. But it was the fact that we didn’t attack the paint on 10 different plays and we turned it over five times, that made it really tough.”

And if Irving wants to discuss it with the coach, Stevens said his door, like his ears, is open.

“He knows he can come in and talk about that stuff,” he said. “I’ve got an open door with regard to if he’s ever got any ideas about how teams that he’s played with have guarded in the past or whatever. I don’t get too caught up in that. Listen, nobody is harder on me (Saturday) night than me. I don’t really care what’s said outside of that. And he had a great game, we all didn’t finish it off. I’ll take my part of that.”

THE SIGNING of Greg Monroe to a 10-day contract was a necessity, considering that Al Horford was about to miss his second straight game to knee soreness, and rookie Robert Williams – who started in Horford’s place Saturday – will miss an indefinite amount of time with back trouble.
Monroe, who played the last 26 games of last season with the Celtics, is an instant fit.

“Being able to walk in and put my stuff on the (blackboard), and the first player who walks in is Greg is fun,” said Stevens. “Getting a chance to talk about how he’s doing, how the people in his life are doing, and really spend time together – he wasn’t here that long but it was a fun run when he was here. It was great to see him again. With our injuries we need bodies at that position. The timing is good.”
So are Monroe’s tangibles.

“We’ve always thought highly of Greg. Defensively to be able to guard the post, there are matchups we probably wouldn’t use Greg on,” said Stevens. “But certainly to guard the post. Offensively he’s pretty good on the block himself, but where I thought he fit great with us was at the elbows and passing the ball. His Georgetown backdoor pass background. He’s a bright guy and when you put him through our stuff, he knows it right after he gets here. Doesn’t take him long.”

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