It would have been nice for Brad Stevens if Kyrie Irving was ready to return tonight when the Celtics host Oklahoma City. But that’s not going to happen.
As Stevens has built recent lineups, he has put together a jigsaw puzzle only to watch it get ruined. Then he puts it back together again. Irving has played just a game and a half in the past six, with Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis out and Al Horford missing two games last week because of illness.
The result has been three losses in the past four games after a 6-1 start coming out of All-Star break.