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Damon Stoudamire was informed Tuesday night, 10 minutes after taking a seat on the bench in Boston, that he wouldn’t have to sit at all. Shortly before his Houston tip-off with the Rockets during his visit, his second-year assistant to the Celtics his coach announced that he had pushed his charts up the depths and that the NBA head his acting coach. I learned that I was in charge of the sideline in my first match as.
After Joe Mazura was ruled out for 11th An hour later due to eye irritation, Stoudamire was next in line. The announcement came as a surprise to him, his mother, who visited the stand on holiday, and everyone else in the arena. Players didn’t know until Stoudamire’s name was announced at the end of the lineup introduction.
“In many ways, it’s better,” said the former NBA point guard and 1996 Rookie of the Year, who said he didn’t have time to get nervous because of last-minute situations. Told. “Go out there and do what we’ve been doing. Of course we put together a game plan as a staff. We know very well what we wanted to do. Joe is going tonight. I couldn’t do it, so I joined in. In a situation like this, everyone does their part.It’s been like this for almost the entire season. The problem was not to.”
The Celtics didn’t skip a beat, so he never spoiled it. performance, a double-double of 11 points and 15 rebounds off the bench for a three-game winning streak. to Robert Williams.
“The only difference is Joe wasn’t chewing gum,” Tatum joked after the game.
On a more serious note, Tatum praised Stoudemire for stepping in with little warning. It’s not a one-person job. We have coaching staff who help each other and the team. Basically, we are all on the same team. So when the coach is away, it’s the next man up mentality.”
Stoudamire said Jays eased his job in a dominant fashion. The pair totaled him 77 points, just one basket behind him before he became the first Celtics teammate to score 40 or more points in the same game.
But Stoudemire didn’t just stand there, fiddle with his thumbs, and let the game play out in front of him. As Brown detailed, he was active on the sidelines and at gatherings.
“I think he held his position pretty well,” said Brown, who scored 15 points in the first quarter and another 14 in the third. Sometimes he called timeouts to let us know where we needed to improve etc. He didn’t (intervene) prepare us to organize and try a good set So I thought he did a good job.”
The team could have fallen apart due to last-minute changes, but they didn’t because they trusted Stoudamire’s ability to help execute their game plan.
Mazura communicated that confidence to his acting head coach just before leaving for eye candy.
“He told me the same things he said when he took over,” Stoudamire said. “He said, ‘I trust you. You are my man and my right hand man. Go there and do what you need to do. I believe in doing the right thing.
Mazura spoke publicly about the trust a few weeks ago, after being named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for games played in October and November. He said he felt the award should have been called “Staff of the Month.” He was out of the head coach spotlight.
On Tuesday night, one of the assistants was finally able to share some of the spotlight. Stoudamire stood up and the Cs gathered around him with pride.
“Damon is one of my favorite people in the organization,” Brown said.
