The plane ride home, particularly after along west coast road trip, is never a quick one.
It has an even longer feel about it when you come up short the way the Boston Celtics did with Sunday’s 100-94 loss being their fourth in five games.
“It’s been a disappointing trip,” Stevens said.
And when that disappointment extends for as long as we’ve seen with this team, the contemplation of making some kind of change – whether it be with the rotation or the starting lineup – has to be considered.
“I’d like to see us find some consistency at some point,” Stevens said. ‘I think that it’s not consistent, whatever our issues are.”
The first six games, Boston’s offense seemed to be the issue while the defense was rock solid most games.
Lately, it has been Boston’s defense that has been shaky while the offense has shown some growth.
And this loss had little to do with effort and everything to do with the team playing with the kind of hunger and sense of urgency, until it was too late.
“When we’re desperate and urgent we’re pretty good,” Stevens said. “We’ve got to do a better job and I have to do a better job of making sure we start games that way.”
And that’s where you may see Marcus Smart inserted into the starting lineup.
Smart played just under 22 minutes against the Blazers, missing all three of his shots from the field.
However, he still managed to grab four rebounds, tally four assists and have a plus/minus of +1 which was tops among all Boston players who logged at least 20 minutes of court time.
The 6-foot-4 Smart has the versatility to play multiple positions which would certainly benefit Boston from a flexibility standpoint.
And while he’s not a shot-maker (he’s only shooting 32.8 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from 3-point range this season), there’s no mistaking the impact Smart has made on the Celtics offensively even when he’s not making shots.
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