Evan Turner no longer plays for Brad Stevens. Almost three full seasons removed from his tenure wearing green though, he's still less surprised by the recent profanity uttered by the Boston Celtics coach than most anyone else.
“My second year He went from being PG rated Lizzy McGuire to all-out Mean Girls,” Turner said of Stevens' coaching demeanor, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.
The NBA world was delighted on Tuesday when a hot mic caught the notoriously mild-mannered, exceedingly polite Stevens mutter “f***!” under his breath while criticizing a technical foul called on Jayson Tatum. Before his team's game against the Blazers, Stevens made light of the non-incident and the fanfare it generated.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever said that,” he said, per Boston.com's Nik DeCosta-Klipa. “Except every minute of the last two weeks.”
The Celtics' embarrassing loss to the Raptors made them 2-5 in their last seven games. Boston is now 37-24 on the season, fifth-place in the Eastern Conference and two games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Turner played two seasons under Brad Stevens, reviving his career as a role player in 2014-15 and 2015-16 after he'd failed to live up to his status as the number two overall pick of the 2010 draft with the Sixers.
The 30-year-old swingman finished fifth in Sixth Man of the Year voting as an oversized backup ball handler during his final season in Boston, and he has occupied a similar role Portland since signing with the team in the summer of 2016 — albeit to a lesser level of effectiveness.
Turner, battling left knee soreness, is out for Wednesday's game between the Blazers and Celtics at T.D. Garden.
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