You have to wonder about Stevens. About all those 3P shots. About the lack of a paint protector. About his choice of Hayward to start the season as a starter. About hints of discord about favoritism.
Has Stevens hit a wall? I wasn't happy with the pre-season, where it seemed very little time was spent to define a starting rotation. Instead, most preseason games seemed more to decide who the 14th and 15th payers on the roster would be. And then the slow start, with Kyrie and Hayward coming back from injuries, maybe not ready to start.
As I recall, they were 11-11 at 22 games, or thereabouts. They've played much better since then--pretty close to the #2 seed, Toronto, but the slow start has left them a few notches below that. But still, they lose a lot of games to lesser teams, too many games at home, and have periods of poor play--usually when they are cold on the 3P shot. You live by it, you die by it. And your opponent often responds with an easy layup--which used to be the Celtics strength. Getting the easy shots. Maybe before the times of some here.
I'm not a big proponent of the 3P shot--at least the way it is used today. When Ainge played, he and Bird took the 3P shots. Almost nobody else, in my recollection. Simple arithmetic says if you can't hit 33% , you shouldn't be shooting the 3. Any team that shoots less than 30% 3s in a game usually loses--assuming they take 35 or so 3s.
I have a hunch this is not going to be an easy off season for Ainge.