Brad Stevens finds many positives in Celtic opening night loss in Toronto
Basketball 101: Take care of the ball and box out.
There was also Gerald Wallace's performance. In a team high just under 40 minutes G-Dub had three points, three rebounds, two assists and five turnovers.
The positives are that he had four steals and took only one shot. So he's playing unselfishly, and hopefully this game was an aberration more than anything else for Wallace.
Speaking of silver linings, Boston Celtic Head Coach Brad Stevens found many to take from the game as well. According to Chris Forsberg at ESPNBoston.com Stevens stated after the game:
"I walk out of here and, certainly I'm disappointed because you’re in a close game and you have a chance [to win], but I walk out of here with some positives to build on," said Stevens. "We’re going to get better at handling the ball, we’re going to get better rebounding, we’re going to get better at keeping our guys in front of us, [but] we fought back and competed."
Furthermore Stevens stated:
"I found myself in the same mode that I am during any game that I’ve coached in before," said Stevens. "I’ll go back and kick myself for certain things, I’m sure. [But it's] not any time for any of us to sulk right now."
Added Stevens, "I felt pretty good out there the whole night, at least I felt like I knew what was coming and going. At the end of the day, we didn’t do everything perfectly, I didn’t coach a perfect game, but I think we can all rest assured that we’ve got a team that will fight, and we’ve got a team that will compete, and we can just shore up a couple of those mistakes, maybe we can come out on the other end of it."
Along with Coach Stevens, I also found many silver linings in The Celtic season opener.
Jeff Green was aggressive offensively totaling 25 points including 2 of 3 from deep. He also had five rebounds, two assists and committed just one turnover.
This is what I would like to see from "The Green Monster" on a nightly basis and actually a little more. I am hoping The C's can get a grand total of 35 from Green on a nightly basis once you add up his points, assists and board total.
Another positive is Jordan Crawford had five assists in just 17 minutes plus. For someone who has the reputation of being a gunner Crawford sure has been passing the ball nicely in preseason as well as last night.
Lastly, there were Brandon Bass and Kris Humphries' performances. As Forsberg reported:
NO SILVER LINING FOR BASS, HUMPHRIES: Brandon Bass scored 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting with two rebounds and two assists over 32 minutes. He was a team-best plus-12 in plus/minus. Asked about his efficient shooting night, Bass offered, "It would feel a lot better if we got the win," he said. Kris Humphries, who took advantage of increased minutes with Jared Sullinger serving a one-game suspension, finished with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds over 21 minutes. Echoing Bass' sentiment, Humphries said: "At the end of the day, it’s winning and losing in my eyes. It’s the kind of team and the kind of game that we’ve got to figure out a way to win. I know it’s the first game of the year, but I feel a little disappointed. I was hoping we’d get this. But we’ve got 81 more."
Ultimately, I do not see either of these two guys being a part of Boston's long term plans so any positives from them moving forward is great as it increases their trade value.
All in all, although any competitor hates losing, I think Celtic fans can come away really encouraged by last night's performance in Toronto and should very much look forward to tomorrow night's home opener against The Bucks in Boston.
Follow Clint on Twitter @coolhandc
