As teams enter the second half of the season, sometimes practices become less frequent and, in many cases, shorter as well. Players still have to remember the importance of these sessions. It often becomes the difference in getting one or two more wins — wins that can determine the success of your season.
Here with the Celtics, we’re strong believers in the importance of practice. As a staff and team, we’re disappointed when we don’t have a good practice. We know what practice means to the outcome of our season and whether we reach the goals we set for the year. Practice is a key ingredient of gametime success.
Our guys understand that practice helps us improve our system and what we do, in addition to getting us ready for what we’re about to face from the next opponent. The final piece to the practice puzzle is that with less team practice time our guys can get more individual time on improving their skills. This is big with NBA players. They totally understand the importance of continuing to work on their skills.
If you were to ask our guys — Is practice hard at this time of the year? Is practice tedious at this time of year? Is practice even boring at this time of year? The answer to all three questions will be yes. But if you ask them — Is practice important this time of year? — they will, to a man, tell you yes. They know that practice now is not only important, it is critical at this time of year.
So let your guys know that every day they’re on the practice floor, every good NBA team is out there as well!
Good teams want to win. Winning teams want to practice!
