Celtics go into Game 6 with the well wishes of Bill Belichick

He addressed the Celtics when they arrived in the Orlando bubble in August, so it’s only natural that Bill Belichick, following the Patriots’ win over the Raiders Sunday, would attempt to advance the karma.

The Pats coach signed off his postgame presser by saying “good luck to Brad (Stevens) and the Celtics tonight — we’re pulling for ’em.”

Belichick is a frequent guest at Celtics games, and over the years his players have also been drawn to TD Garden. Vince Wilfork was a fixture.

So in a sense, Stevens had thoughts of playing at home before Game 6 against Miami Sunday.

“I just saw that (Belichick) clip, it’s nice — another great win for them,” said Stevens. “We’ve always appreciated his and the entire Patriots organization’s support. We miss playing at TD Garden, where if it was a playoff game you’d look around and a lot of them would be here. Certainly appreciate that sentiment from him.”

Three D

One trend the Celtics were banking on Sunday night was their ability to guard the 3-point line against Miami’s shooters, though individual Heat players like Tyler Herro, Goran Dragic and Duncan Robinson have certainly taken turns with big shots.

But Miami, after shooting 27.3% from 3-point range in Game 3, dropped to 27.0 in Game 4 and 19.4 in Game 5.

“Generally we’ve been a good 3-point defense for a long time, but that’s knock on wood, because those guys can go off at any time — they can make tough ones, they can make ’em when you’re there,” said Stevens. “I can go back to Game 2 where we shot ourselves in the foot a lot of ways, but they also heaved a few in and came back to win that game.

“They were just shots we couldn’t have guarded any better. I do think they’re very capable, and we’re just trying to make it as hard as possible. Again, it’s easier said than done. That’s it. I don’t expect it to be perfect. It’s hard to take away everything.”

Tacko working

Tacko Fall was on the floor before Sunday night’s game, going through ballhandling drills with Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga. No one’s saying that the 7-foot-5 Celtics rookie will become the next Bam Adebayo. But it’s nice to have a goal.

“The ball skills of big guys is critical,” said Stevens. “The ability to hand off, the ability to take two or three dribbles and make a play for somebody else, the ability to catch it in the seam and read the attack and the action, what that does, all those things that Jay creatively comes up with, is it builds just this ability to handle all of that.

“But if you look at the way all these teams are playing, Bam Adebayo, in a lot of ways, is the hub of their offense. They’re running everything at the elbows through him, at the top of the key through him. He plays point a lot for ’em. Not necessarily that you would ever put Tacko in those positions, but he does have to be able to hand off, hit a backdoor pass, drive it from the top of the key if he’s open and do what he does best. That stuff just makes him better. The more a big can handle the ball, the more a big can make the quick right read, the more versatile their options are as they move through their career.”

Support system

Stevens was one of the earliest advocates for having families join teams in the bubble — certainly a lot sooner than was finally allowed by the league.

He’s been joined by the most important part of his support system — his wife Tracy.

“From my own standpoint, she’s the assistant coach, the agent, the psychologist, and everything else that I rely on the most, so it’s great to have her here,” he said. “We’ve talked many times that whatever our next set of schedules is, including families earlier is very important.”

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/334s5xY