In a season where expectations weren’t met and teammates seemed to be throwing each other under the bus, Brad Stevens is pointing fingers at just one person.
Himself.
The Celtics head coach lamented the season struggles in his postgame press conference after Boston’s 116-91 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinal. The defeat ended the Celtics’ season after being pegged by many as the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference when the year began.
Even though the team was stacked with talent with Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Terry Rozier, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown, Boston struggled with its identity. While some point to some of the younger players’ roles shifting due to the return of Irving and Hayward, Stevens is blaming himself and no one else.
“I understand that we didn’t meet the outside expectations and we really rode a roller coaster a lot of the year, and it was difficult,” Stevens said after the loss, as seen on the NBA’s postgame coverage. “… I’ll be the first to say that this is, as far as any other year that I’ve been a head coach, certainly the most trying. I think I did a bad job. At the end of the day, as a coach, if your team doesn’t find it’s best fit together, that’s on you.”
There’s plenty of uncertainty heading into the offseason — mainly where Irving will end up come the 2019-20 season — but we probably can guarantee Stevens will want to make sure next year’s squad meshes better than this year’s did.
