CHICAGO — Celtics coach Brad Stevens, remaining true to family-centric beliefs he imparts to his players, left the team yesterday, missing last night’s game to be with a former Butler University player.
The Celts didn’t say anything beyond that and the fact that assistant coach Jay Larranaga would run the team against the Bulls, but it quickly became clear the player is Andrew Smith, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma two years ago this month.
Smith had a bone marrow transplant in November, but his wife, Samantha, had said in a blog that his condition had worsened.