Before Damon Stoudamire joined the Celtics on Ime Udoka’s teaching employees final summer time, he didn’t know a lot about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“All I heard was they couldn’t play together,” Stoudamire mentioned. “I had never met them. I just watched TV. I never knew the narrative that was around it. I haven’t seen anything like that.”
The Celtics’ star duo put that narrative to mattress with final season’s run to the NBA Finals, and so they’ve raised their recreation to a brand new degree this season. Tatum is an MVP frontrunner, and Brown is a powerful candidate to make his first All-NBA workforce.
Tatum and Brown’s play during the last calendar 12 months has spoken for itself. But behind the scenes, when he did meet the tandem, Stoudamire – who performed 13 seasons within the NBA and has coached within the league at a number of stops since – was struck by how they carried themselves regardless of establishing themselves as stars within the league.
“How humble they were. Both of them,” Stoudamire mentioned. “I’ve been round this league a very long time, I’ve by no means seen that. I’ve by no means seen a star like J.T., he’s type of a throwback. He practices, he performs, J.B. is similar means. …
“I tell our staff this all the time, I said you should appreciate (them). I’ve been in a lot of organizations, you should appreciate them because it’s not like that everywhere, and people will tell you. So I just appreciate them because they make it easier for you to coach them, they allow you to coach them, and they allow you to help them get better.”
Stoudamire believes Tatum and Brown have totally different types that work collectively.
“(Brown is) a bully to me, like when I say a bully, I say it from the standpoint of a good way,” Stoudamire mentioned. “I feel like he’s the type of guy every team needs. The way he plays, I think it balances J.T. I think that he’s the total opposite of J.T., and I think that’s why it works with them.”
Encouraging stint
The Celtics’ beginning 5 of Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, Al Horford and Rob Williams that led them to the Finals final season hasn’t gotten a lot run since Williams returned from left knee surgical procedure two weeks in the past, however Stoudamire performed them collectively for the ultimate 5:06 of the second quarter in Thursday’s win. The outcomes have been blended. The group went on a 9-0 run to begin their stint, however the protection slipped as they gave up 12 factors over the ultimate three minutes.
Still, it was an encouraging run from that 5 because the C’s look to play them extra collectively.
“I thought they were good,” Stoudamire mentioned. “I think the thing about it is when you play two bigs, it makes you feel funny a little bit, especially when with the Clippers, I think they had (Nicolas) Batum at the 5 at one point. So it makes you feel funny, but I think that Rob makes up for a lot of stuff at the rim, and I think Al is great at keeping his man — staying between his man and the basket. So I was happy. We wanted to see what that looked like regardless. We wanted to see what that looked like moving forward, and I would think you will see a little more of that.”
As for Williams, the middle regarded robust once more as he completed with 12 factors and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes. There isn’t certainty if he’ll return to the beginning lineup, and he reiterated Thursday that he doesn’t thoughts coming off the bench. But both means, he has been impacting wins. On Thursday, he got here up huge early within the fourth quarter because the C’s took command down the stretch.
“Rob is looking really good the last few games,” Brown mentioned. “In the fourth quarter he had high energy. He had some good plays, he got some big baskets to start the fourth quarter and helped us I think end up winning the game. So we want to get Rob the ball and get him comfortable and as he continues to progress he’s going to get more dominant out there. So it’s great having him as an option, as a threat, and as he continues to get back to himself, look out.”
A fast set off
Joe Mazzulla has developed a fame of not calling timeouts in his first stint as a head coach, as he needs his gamers to determine issues out themselves on the fly. But as Mazzulla missed a second consecutive recreation Thursday attributable to a watch damage, Stoudamire appeared to have his personal timeout philosophy. Early within the third quarter, because the Clippers lower their 11-point halftime deficit to 2, the performing coach referred to as a fast timeout.
“Just, guys, go sit over there and let’s relax for a second,” Stoudamire mentioned. “We came out a little flat. We came out flat against Houston in the third quarter as well, they just didn’t have the same firepower but these guys have firepower. I didn’t feel like the game was getting away from us but I just felt like we needed to regroup. I didn’t even say too much. Sometimes you’ve gotta just call timeout just to call timeout. Then you’ve gotta just settle everybody down and just kind of get the game and momentum back. And that’s really all that was.”
On the transfer
Tatum handed Antoine Walker to maneuver into second on the Celtics’ all-time 3-point checklist throughout Thursday’s win. He now has 940 profession 3-pointers, solely trailing Paul Pierce’s 1,823 triples. … The Celtics completed the calendar 12 months of 2022 with the very best file within the NBA, with a 60-22 mark. According to Celtics broadcaster Sean Grande, the Celtics’ solely higher file throughout a calendar 12 months within the final 35 years got here in 2008, after they went 68-18.
Source: www.bostonherald.com