NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS. HEAT

September 22, 2020

Brad Stevens

Boston Celtics

Practice Day

Q. Sticking with the theme at the beginning of all of this, you talked about finding your joy throughout all of this. Obviously, it's become a grind with the Playoffs as they normally are and with things that have happened over the past couple days. How do you feel the team is doing now at probably one of the toughest points?

BRAD STEVENS: I think one of the things that we've tried to do, as we talked about when we got here and this is what you were mentioning, it was about using an opportunity to inspire, empower and find joy playing a kids' game together. We've tried to keep that focus. There's emotions that get involved. There's noise that's not worth listening to that you just move through, and then there's things that you do have to address to make your team better.

We want to do all those things, all within the context of trying to put our best foot forward and represent ourselves and our organization as well as we can. We talk about it constantly. It's very important that we have a pulse on everybody in that regard and that we all look out for each other. I think we've done a good job.

I said yesterday it's eerie here with the amount of teams that are no longer here, because it's so empty versus what it was. But at the same time, we're thankful that we're part of that. Thus far, it's been challenging in some ways but a rewarding experience in every other which way.

Q. We have this notion that somehow when a team is down 0-2 it's got to try harder, change things, do all these things. Is that overstated? And when you're down in a series, whether it's 0-2 or 1-2, does the approach change? Do you still have to keep that edge?

BRAD STEVENS: Every game is hard. To win an NBA game during the regular season is really hard. To win a playoff game is exceptionally hard. The score of the series doesn't really matter. It's just about better prepare to play your best on the next given night. That's all we usually talk about.

Obviously, you know that when a team lost its last one, you're going to get a great shot. But you expect a great shot every time. We're going to have to play our best game in Game 4, and then after Game 4 is over, we're going to have to play better than that in Game 5. That's kind of the way it works.

Q. How much going back and forth with strategy is there when you've got someone like Erik on the other side where you guys approach the game from a strategy standpoint in similar ways? Is it interesting at all or do you need a capability of feeling like it's interesting or when it's in the middle of it, it's just a battle?

BRAD STEVENS: I've said this every series we've played: I learn something from every team we play. I learned stuff from Philly, learned stuff from Toronto, learning every day from Miami. I think Erik is tremendous on both sides of the ball. I think that the way that they have morphed their team to play around the strengths of Adebayo at the elbow and all those guys cutting off of him, and then to be able to play with Dragic or Butler in pick-and-rolls or isolations or get matchups or whatever, is tremendous. Then on the defensive end, I think the additions of Crowder and Iguodala gave them a ton more versatility at the trade deadline, but it also, I think, made everyone else a better defender because it gave them a little bit more help. The schemes that they've put in place make it really hard to find a good shot.

I think the world of Erik. I think the world of their whole program. I think they're tremendous. But that's the fun part of this. When you're playing at this time of the year -- I guess not this time of the year, usually you're getting ready for training camp, but when you're playing in the Playoffs, that's the part that is fun. There are tweaks that are made game to game by both teams, some bigger impact, some smaller impact, some that may or may not be noticed. But I think he's terrific.

Q. You've been with Jaylen for his entire NBA career. He's had to answer so many questions on social justice, racial justice and yet perform on the court. What's been your perception of just watching Jaylen throughout all this and how he's handled it?

BRAD STEVENS: Jaylen is a high achiever. You can be a high achiever in every which way. He's a guy that we've talked about several times: He's going to do bigger things off the court than he is on it, and he's a special player on it. I just think he's, again, extremely thoughtful, extremely caring and has great moxie and courage.

I think you add all that together, and the basketball is just a glimpse into who he is. Then when you start learning more about him, you realize who he really is, and he's a special guy.

Q. How has Gordon's ankle responded since game night, and how do you manage him moving forward?

BRAD STEVENS: Good. He's responded well. He put in a lot of work to get ready for that. I didn't anticipate necessarily playing him 31 minutes, but I never thought he looked like he was completely gassed, either. I thought there were times where obviously he wanted to come out and we took him out for a quick breather, but I was more worried about the conditioning aspect of it than necessarily the structure of the ankle. Our training staff felt really good about where he was and how much work he had put in and that it looked like it was going to be able to handle it. Knowing we had four days off and knowing the recovery was going to have a little bit more time, it extended his minutes a little bit.

What I said yesterday I think is important: Now he knows he can do it. I think sometimes when you come back and you're on a minutes restriction and you play 15 or 20, then the next step is 22, then the next step is 24, then the next step is 26. He knows he can do it as long as we pace those stints well, and so that's what we'll keep doing. He won't get to 40, but he'll play minutes.

Q. It's National Voter Registration Day and it's kind of endless, the signage we see around here, the discussions that players have. But the NBPA has noted that just a fraction of players are actually registered. Is that something you're having a conversation with guys about?

BRAD STEVENS: Yeah, so part of our rollout that we had a few weeks ago, the voting initiatives is one of our pillars of that. We started, on Celtics.com, a voter registration area that was connected with When We All Vote. We presented that to our team a few weeks ago during the pause, and then we all worked together to make sure we were all registered ourselves and made sure we're all set. We realize that it's extremely important, if we're going to continue to talk about it, to make sure each of our voices are all heard in this election, not obviously only the presidential, but in every other part of it. And I think that that's something that's really important.

So we've spent a lot of time talking about it. I was in the meeting with the couple of players and the ownership group where the different voting initiatives were discussed at maybe an even more intense level than we have before. Obviously, it's a huge emphasis with this league, a huge emphasis with the leaders of this league, and we make sure we're doing our part in that.