The beauty of playoff basketball – and the distinction between Brad Stevens’ first-round approach against Philadelphia and now against Toronto – lies in the adjustments.
And nowhere is the Celtics coach swapping out bodies more than in his big man rotation. Enes Kanter had one of his best sequences of the season coming off the bench against Joel Embiid. Robert Williams played the same role in Game 1 against Toronto, and not only defended well, but didn’t miss a shot in his 5 for 5 performance.
Then he repeated that performance in the first quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday night, scoring 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting. He finished with 11 points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in 17 minutes as the Celtics took a 2-0 series lead with a 102-99 win.
“The Philly matchup was one where … we thought Kanter was – Kanter might have been our best option in that series, including (Daniel) Theis,” Stevens said before Game 2. “So I think we’re going to keep playing that way, and playing to the strengths of our team. It’s OK if guys make mistakes.”
That’s an allowance that especially has to be made for the young Williams, who nevertheless has shown great growth since games started in the Orlando bubble.
“There’s enough time in between games to work on things,” said Stevens. “I joked about our practice time yesterday, but he spent about 25 minutes after working on the things he needs to be ready for the day. Things will always present themselves – doesn’t mean you’re going to play a perfect game. I think he’s done a lot of good things since he’s been in the bubble.”
Williams checked into Game 2 with 6:25 left in the first quarter and the Celtics down 15-9. Boston’s had already given up easy transition baskets without much effort to stop the ball, Daniel Theis had already lost Marc Gasol on the slowest backdoor cut of all time, and the defensive rotations weren’t exactly crisp.
“He’s the only reason we were in the game in the first quarter,” Stevens said. “I did not think we started well. I thought our first six minutes were sloppy and I didn’t think we got to our spots. I think the pace that Toronto was playing at was much different than our pace. But when he came in, he kinda changed it and made enough plays to get us into the (second) quarter tied.”
FAMILY TIME: In a video that quickly went viral over social media, Raptors guard Fred VanVleet welcomed his wife and two young children to the team hotel on Monday.
Though only a smattering of family members have joined the Celtics thus far – more are anticipated if the team advances to the conference finals – Stevens doesn’t anticipate so much as a ripple of disruption.
The Celtics coach was one of the early advocates among NBA coaches for families being included in the league’s bubble plan.
“It doesn’t change it for us at all,” said Stevens. “Just keep preparing game-by-game and doing what we can and play as well as we can. My personal belief is, as people come in and ultimately people get to see their loved ones, family, or guests, then that’s terrific because it just makes it a little more like normal.”
JOHN THOMPSON: Former Georgetown coach John Thompson, who died this week at the age of 78, had a couple New England ties. He was a backup to Bill Russell when the Celtics won NBA championships in 1965 and 1966, averaging 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 74 games. Thompson, a third-round pick in 1964, became a high school coach in Washington, D.C., after his brief stop with the Celtics.
Thompson is one of seven players in Providence College history to record at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, getting 1,520 points and 1,061 rebounds for the Friars in a career that ended in 1964.
Stevens did not coach against Thompson but he did go against Thompson’s son, John Thompson III, when Butler played Georgetown.
“His impact is enormous on basketball, on sports, on community,” said Stevens. “He was a big, big icon in basketball. I met him maybe on an occasion or two, but I know (his son) pretty well. Our heartfelt condolences certainly go out to him and his family and Patrick (Ewing) and everybody at Georgetown now.”
GORDON HAYWARD suffered a severe right ankle sprain on Aug. 17 in Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers, just over two weeks ago. He will be sidelined at least two more weeks, keeping Hayward out of the series with the Raptors.
“Rehab seems to be going OK,” said Stevens. “He feels a little bit better. I don’t think his gait is perfect yet. Once his gait feels right, becomes perfect, he’s probably on a quicker course to coming back. I think he’ll rejoin us in the bubble at some point soon, but he still will be some time away when he does do that.”
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