Brad Stevens intends to make the most of the home stretch.
The Boston Celtics head coach told reporters Monday what the team hopes to achieve in the last week of preseason. The Celtics will visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night before embarking on a stretch of seven days without a game. Stevens plans to mix practice, preparation and rest in order to prepare Boston for its 2019-20 regular-season opener, which will take place Oct. 23 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“So we do have, I think, five practices before our first game,” Stevens said, per The Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett. “It gives you a chance to clean up stuff you need to clean up. If you want to add something for your opponents that are coming up, you can do that. You’ve got all kinds of flexibility with that. If you’re playing a game on Friday and Sunday, it may be a little bit more difficult to do some of that.”
Stevens probably will deploy a barebones lineup against the Cavs as six leading players reportedly remained in Boston instead of traveling to Cleveland for the preseason finale. The absences will give nominally bench players the opportunity to further their respective cases for playing time or perhaps even roster spots ahead of the fateful final week of training camp.
After that, the real fun will begin.
