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WALTHAM, Mass. – The Celtics have hit the proverbial wall, according to Isaiah Thomas.
“Right now,” Thomas said with a sigh after being asked about when he and his teammates would begin to feel the burn of training camp. “Those two-a-days we had the first two days were tough on us.”
Thursday’s afternoon practice session, the team’s fifth since opening camp Tuesday morning, wasn’t much easier. It was slated to last only 90 minutes, but it ran a good 45 minutes longer than planned.
The players will not return to the floor until Friday evening at TD Garden, where they will hold an open practice for season ticket holders. As such, their focus has now shifted to getting their bodies to feel right again.
“You just get your recovery, get your treatment and things like that and you’ll be alright,” Thomas said. “Now that we’re focusing on just one practice a day I think it’s going to be easier for guys.
“Give it a week,” he added. “I think by next week it will be normal that we have practice every day, because those five or six months that you’re off, you’re not really practicing as hard as you’re practicing right now.”
The fact that Boston’s players are feeling the grind of training camp should not come as a surprise. After all, it’s impossible to replicate the pace of training camp during solo or close-to-solo workouts over the summer.
“It’s easy for guys to go in there and ride the bike, run the treadmill and try to get in that type of shape,” said Marcus Smart. “(It’s different to) then come out here on the court. They’re two different types of shape that you’re trying to get into.”
The painful days of training camp also should not be viewed as a negative, as newcomer Al Horford was quick to point out.
“Guys are ready,” he said. “Guys were in here in early September working extra hard, and really all summer long. Amir (Johnson) and I worked out together in Atlanta in late July, and a lot of the other guys, I know they were working, too.
“These guys here – they’re pretty committed to winning and doing the right things.”
Brad Stevens, who knows his players – including 12 returnees – as well as anyone, knows that such is true. That’s why he’s not overreacting to any signs of fatigue from either his Celtics vets or his new guys.
“I think when you’re a younger player or a new player, you’re probably going to gauge the practice to be harder just because of all of the new stuff that’s coming at you,” the coach said. “I think physically, from a physical conditioning standpoint, guys are in pretty good spots right now.
“Obviously each guy has their things that they need to work on, but with our nutrition and sleep work and extra strength and conditioning work, training work, prehab, rehab… I feel like everything is in place to take advantage of that to be in great shape.”
The Celtics are in great shape, they’re just feeling the burn of training camp.
That wall they’ve hit will fall soon enough.