Brad Stevens‘s new-look Celtics are off to their best start in his tenure as head coach, with a sterling 5-1 record. A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston opines that the Celtics’ winning ways are attributable to five key factors: an easy connection with new point guard Kemba Walker; strong second halves on offense and defense; a relative dearth of contract drama; no idle chatter of Stevens mulling a return to the NCAA; and Stevens’ willingness for self-reflection following the disappointment of the 2018/19 Celtics.
Here’s tonight’s full run-down of Atlantic notes:
- Marc Berman of The New York Post posits that it’s way too early for Knicks head coach David Fizdale to be on the coaching hot seat. Though the Knicks are tied with the Zion Williamson-free Pelicans at a league-worst 1-6 record, Berman suggests that the front office duo of Knicks president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry have saddled Fizdale with a head-scratching assortment of talent, heavy on mediocre frontcourt pieces but light on outside shooting or clutch end-of-game leadership.
- In a piece for The Athletic, Frank Isola supports Fizdale’s staunch defense of playing promising Knicks rookie RJ Barrett extended minutes, an argument echoed by former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and by Barrett himself. “Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe by playing Barrett a lot of minutes David Fizdale is advancing Barrett’s career forward?,” Van Gundy said to Isola. “Is there anyone who really believes that the way you get better is by not playing and by not practicing?”
- On the other side of the wins-losses spectrum, the Raptors appear to be taking a similar approach to the struggling Knicks when it comes to one hot-button health topic. “I don’t really see much point in (load management) right now for anyone we’ve got,” head coach Nick Nurse said on Monday, per Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. “Kyle [Lowry] will be somebody maybe we do something with down the road, maybe Marc [Gasol] as well. But it’s not really in the forefront of my mind this year like it was last year.” The Raptors famously conserved the play of eventual Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard last season. 33-year-old Lowry is currently leading the league with a heavy 38.8 minutes played per game, while backcourt mate Fred VanVleet is logging 37.8 minutes a night.
How about the Celtics are starting off well because they got rid of Kyrie Irving? Think that’s a factor LOL? Not sure he had a choice but I’ll put that in Danny Ainge’s Ledger as a smart move.
It’s nice to see the Celtics are off to a good start. The East needs a couple more strong teams at the top besides Milwaukee Philly and maybe Indiana.
Oops, maybe Miami included in that group of potential higher seeds in the east.
Hayward seems to be back to full strength too. That’s huge
He exorcised the demons last night at the site of his injury. What a monster game going 17-20.
Totally agree with JVG! Never known anyone who got better by not playing or having load management. I mean RJ is 19, he can play 35-40MPG, if he can’t he shouldn’t be in the league. Really sick about this load management, players are paid to play, they have the best science in the world to keep them fit & healthy, playing 35-40MPG should be doable without any effort for any player under 32-33, if they can’t, maybe they should try to get fit to play.
My guess is that there is science behind load management. If there is not there will be soon. Certainly the idea of recovery from strenuous activity is not new. Agree that young guy like RJ should be banging every night. Better players who are load managed should have contracts that are incentivized for postseason advancement and performance since that is the stated goal of load managing players like Kawhi.
“Never known anyone who got”
Good lord man.