Brad Stevens was interviewed following the Celtics blowout loss in game two. Jayson Tatum left the game in the third quarter after Kevin Durant poked him in the eye; no foul was called. “He went back out onto the court to try to kind of readjust to the light out there,” said Stevens. “He was really struggling...it looks pretty red, it looks pretty swollen to me. I don't know what that means, I don't know what the exact diagnosis is but obviously he's uncomfortable right now.”
On Brooklyn taking over on both ends of the court, Stevens said “They were terrific. We've got to be way better, we’ve gotta get down the floor quicker, we've got to execute faster, we have to be more detailed and better in our defense...I was disappointed in how we played versus the other night. I thought we were really tied together the other night. I didn't think so as much tonight.”
On Boston’s performance, Stevens said “We were a lot more purposeful than we were most of game one but defensively we missed too many coverages...they made some plays in isolation, they made some plays and individually that were excellent. But we also shot ourselves in the foot by giving up a few others...we have to make it a game, where we're in our shell more, we're guarding more as a team and on a string as a team, and not overreacting to the individual play.”
Boston particularly struggled with Joe Harris getting hot, as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would find him waiting on the wing unguarded.
“You blitz one of those guys or you double team one of those guys and the ball just swings to another guy that's a great shooter and and they're good at finding those guys...obviously you know when Harris is going like that they become exceptionally difficult to stop, because then that limits how much you want to really rotate and and blitz.”
On getting back to Boston and having the fans behind them, Stevens said “I mean we've been in a lot of series here over the last few years we've been down to we've been up 2-0 and several times the script was flipped. I mean you just have to focus on what you can control. But there's no question that will look forward to playing in TD Garden and we'll look forward to playing with more fans...I go back to all these games, and you think back to our Brooklyn game on Christmas Day and there was no one there...a great reminder that everybody's been through a lot, and progress is being made and we're looking forward to that opportunity in front of our fans.”
