Stevens is a good college level coach. He can coach up a team that has no talent and have them overachieve. For that, i give him credit. When it comes to getting a team over the top and into title contention he is too flawed. His rotations/substitutions are pre-planned and are not going with the flow of the actual game being played. As mentioned in this thread his timeouts are always too late. By the time he calls them the other team has built up a huge head of steam. Am i saying that he needs to be replaced? Not necessarily. But i do think he needs to look himself in the mirror for the lackluster coaching job he's done this season.
Stevens wasn't a good college level coach. He was an amazing college level coach. And he is one of the top 3-4 coaches in the NBA.
Stevens is definitely part of this team's problems but no more or less so than Ainge, his other coaches, the training and medical staff and all the players. Everyone is to blame.
But Stevens is definitely a huge part of the solution to get better. He is a great coach. He will turn this team around.
To add to this, on a micro-scale, Horf was on a minutes restriction. Baynes was out. We had no bodies to pitch against Embiid.
On a macro-scale, the team itself has been dealing with a bunch of problems with consistency. The bench, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward are all dealing with problems of their own. This is the type of stuff we work out during the regular season.
Rozier, JB and Hayward need the minutes to work their problems out, and when they play they have been minuses. That's around a third of the rotation.
So I wouldn't say Brad is without blame, but I'm quite confident when both teams are going 110% come playoffs, things will be quite different.