NBC Sports Boston’s Michael Holley caught up with President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens at ABCD’s Hoop Dreams basketball tournament on Tuesday to talk about the charity and the state of the Celtics. Coming off a difficult loss to the Bulls on Monday night after giving up a 19-point late third quarter lead, the defeat was compounded by criticism from Marcus Smart and head coach Ime Udoka after the game.
Udoka noted a “lapse of concentration and killer instinct” for the Celtics’ third consecutive loss, but it was Smart’s pointed critique of the offense and more so, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum’s growing pains as playmakers that might have hit harder than one game out of an 82-game regular season.