Brad Stevens put on a masterful coaching performance during the 2018 NBA playoffs. He guided his team to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals despite the fact that the Boston Celtics were missing their two best players.
Stevens told Jay King of The Athletic that Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are both doing well on their respective comebacks from injury.
Hayward went down on opening night and didn't even make it through a half of basketball before his season was over. Kyrie Irving on the other hand, played in 60 games before his season ended when he needed to get knee surgery. Irving averaged 24.4 points per game in his first season with the Celtics.
The Celtics are set to be one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference next season after nearly shocking LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's hard to argue that the Cavaliers-Celtics series would have gone differently had Hayward and Irving been at full-strength.
But the Celtics, like many teams in the NBA, are going to let their superstars have as much time as they need to get healthy. There was no sense in trying to rush them back to the team when you have all the pieces in place to compete for years to come.
Stevens has an incredibly young and talented team surrounding Hayward and Irving with an All-Star like Al Horford, and budding stars like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. And not to mention, Stevens always seems to get the most out of his players.
Slow and steady is the right call for Stevens and the Celtics. It looks like it's working so far.
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