BOSTON — Brad Stevens isn’t exactly the most fiery coach in the NBA. But when something is on his mind, he says it, and that’s exactly what happened Wednesday night.
The Boston Celtics entered the second half trailing the Memphis Grizzlies by three, a bit of a surprise considering Memphis was missing several star players due to injury. But more concerning to Stevens was how Boston fell into that deficit, as the Grizzlies scored 17 second-chance points to the Celtics’ two in the first half and outrebounded them 29-14.
Rather than giving a lengthy lecture to his team on its shortcomings, though, Stevens opted for a different approach.
“Wasn’t brain surgery,” Stevens said. “Just walked in and said, ‘They’re beating us to every loose ball and getting every rebound. This is the way they beat you tonight. So, we either have to change that or we won’t win.'”
Evan Turner remembers his coach using a bit harsher tone.
“He just told us it was pathetic,” the Celtics swingman said, “and we needed to pick it up and have some pride and dignity and defend homecourt.”
To say the Celtics picked it up would be an understatement.
Boston roared out of the gates in the second half, beating the scrappy Grizzlies to loose balls during a huge third quarter en route to a 116-96 win. Isaiah Thomas led the charge, scoring 16 of his game-high 22 points in that frame and re-energizing the C’s with his uptempo play.
“I think the biggest thing for us, other than stops and rebounding, was pushing the ball,” Stevens said. “We played at a different pace. (Thomas) and Amir (Johnson) got to the line on the first two possessions of the second half, and (Thomas) pushed the pace the entire time he was in the third quarter.”
More importantly, though, the C’s improved directly in Stevens’ two primary areas of concern. They tallied 12 second-chance points to Memphis’ five in the second half and even beat the Grizzlies on the boards 24-19 over the final two quarters.
“We picked our intensity up in the second half,” guard Marcus Smart said. “They were beating us to every 50-50 ball, every offensive rebound, and they outworked us on both ends. So, in the second half, we wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.”
The Celtics pulling away from an ailing Grizzlies team that suffered another blow when Mario Chalmers left with an injury in the third quarter isn’t cause for too much celebration. But Stevens issued a stern yet simple demand to his players, and they responded in a big way.
“It was much of what coach Stevens didn’t say,” Smart said of his coach’s halftime speech. “He kind of left it up to us.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
