Boston coach Brad Stevens declined to blame Kyrie Irving’s troubles or his bench’s lack of production for the team’s 4-1 series loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Celtics were the only team in NBA modern playoff history to win their first five games before losing four in a row, with Stevens accepting responsibility for their slump.
“I’ll be the first to say that this, more than any other year I’ve been a head coach, has certainly been the most difficult,” Stevens, who recently completed his sixth season in the position, said.
“I believe I did a horrible job. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility as a coach to ensure that your team is the best fit for each other.
“So, I’ll do a lot of deep dives into how to be better.”
Stevens couldn’t do much in Wednesday night’s 116-91 loss, during which the Celtics shot 31.2%, and Irving went 6-for-21.
For the series, he went 25-for-81 for 30.9 percent, significantly below his season average of 48.7 percent.
“I mean, truth be told, it’s no time to be disappointed,” he said. “I think that you take your lessons, you take your ass-whooping that they handed us, and you move on.”
It is unclear whether Irving will continue with the Celtics. He, like Al Horford, Aron Baynes, and Marcus
Morris, has the option to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent, thus the Celtics’ roster might look very different next season.I understand that we didn’t meet the outside expectations, and we really rode a roller coaster a lot of the year, and it was difficult,” Stevens went on to say.
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