Sunday, May 2 - Trail Blazers at Celtics
Pregame – Nesmith Has Been Impressing Stevens All Season Long Behind Closed Doors
While Aaron Nesmith has been impressing Celtics fans on the court over the last week, he’s been impressing head coach Brad Stevens all season behind closed doors.
Stevens referenced Nesmith’s elite work ethic late last week and did so again prior to Sunday night’s matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers. The coach is making sure that everyone understands such comments are truth, not fluff.
“I said this the other day: He’s got an unbelievable work ethic, and he plays very hard,” Stevens said of the rookie wing. “Again, he’s on the upper end of both of those. I know everybody throws around those things that everyone has, but he’s on the upper end of both of those.”
That work ethic has gone a long way in helping Nesmith to find great success over Boston’s last two games as well.
One might think that his hard work helped him to smooth out his shot and score his 31 combined points over the last two games, and it probably did to some extent. But the work ethic aided his success in a different way, from Stevens’ perspective.
“I’d say the part that has been the most impressive to me over the last two games has been the fact that a guy can go from not playing that much from a conditioning standpoint and play those long of stretches as hard as he did,” Stevens commented. “Again, that speaks to his work ethic on off days. It speaks to his preparation throughout the season.”
The effort with which Nesmith plays has played a critical role in Boston winning its last two games. Stevens said the Celtics “needed that kind of jolt from someone.” Nesmith is the player who has stepped up and delivered.
Based upon what Stevens has seen from Nesmith behind closed doors since the rookie arrived in Boston, that doesn’t seem to be much of a surprise to Boston’s coach.
- Marc D'Amico
Tues