Jeff Zillgitt

USA TODAY Sports

NEW ORLEANS – Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens gets it. He’s not going to give himself credit for helping the Celtics to the Eastern Conference’s second-best record.

He’s not going congratulate himself for coaching the East All-Stars either.

“I hope our players understand how much I’d rather have them there than the coaching staff. That’s the No. 1 thing,” Stevens told USA TODAY Sports. “None of us on our coaching staff are sitting there if those guys aren’t doing what they’re doing. This is a great honor for our staff because we’re members of this team.”

Yet, Stevens’ job can’t be overlooked. He has one All-Star in guard Isaiah Thomas this season, a former All-Star in versatile big man Al Horford, solid veterans (Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Amir Johnson) and a handful of youngsters 25-and-under (Kelly Olynyk, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, James Young and rookie Jaylen Brown).

If Stevens won’t talk about himself, his boss, Celtics general manager, Danny Ainge will.

“It’s not like he has some secret formula,” Ainge said. “He’s a really hard worker, he’s a really smart guy, and he has great integrity. He has great communication skills and has a calming influence in a tense world. I’ve grown to appreciate that demeanor. He holds players accountable in a calm and consistent fashion.

“He looks at the positives – the things players can do and doesn’t focus, dwell and whine about the things players can’t do. He tries to put them in a position where they can succeed.”

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The NBA coaching landfill is marked by college coaches who didn’t make it in the NBA – coaches who are very good and even excellent in college. Give Ainge credit for finding a guy who looked like a college lifer and bringing him to the NBA. Give Stevens credit for adapting and succeeding.

“Given that it is a different sport than college basketball, he came to the NBA totally prepared for the league’s 82 ‘200-possession, 1,000-decisions a night’ games that separate great from good coaching,” said ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla who knows the college, pro and international game as well as anyone.

Stevens is in his fourth season with the Celtics, and the team’s winning percentage has improved in each one from .305 to .488 to .585 to .655 – and on pace to win 53 games this season.

Stevens also has stability on the roster. For at least his first season and half with Boston, it was a revolving door of nearly three dozen players.

“In a lot of ways, we’re benefitting from continuity and stability, and other ways, we’re benefitting from adding a 30-year-old (Horford) who is the ultimate teammate, completely selfless and willing to take on any role you ask him. That’s been a good thing for our team,” Stevens said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who know what they do well, they play in that lane and it allows them to play well. They understand what they do and what their teammates do.”

The roster stability has allowed Stevens to introduce more concepts to his offense compared to the keep-it-simple philosophy he had in his first two seasons. It has allowed him to play the 5-9 Thomas off the ball just as much or more than at point guard.

“He’s terrific off the ball cutting and scoring,” Stevens said. “Those are things you learn about your guys over the course of time.”

The Celtics have the sixth-best offense, scoring 109.6 points per 100 possessions and are No. 2 in assist ratio.

“Offensively, we’ve shared the ball pretty well all year,” Stevens said. “A good example of that is Isaiah went on his incredible run in January. He has seen a lot more blitzing over the last couple of weeks and has made the right plays late in games. Everybody has the mindset: just make the next right play. We need to continue to do that.”

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The Celtics have managed to win while having their starting lineup for just 21 games this season.

“We’ve probably been more injured than any team I’ve ever coached. And yet these guys just keep finding ways,” Stevens said.

Not all is perfect. The Celtics are 19th defensively, allowing 106.3 points per 100 possessions, and are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league.

“We probably haven’t defended at the level we need to, to be as good as we can be. But we’ve started to have some moments here and there in the last month,” Stevens said. “All year, we’ve been a bad defensive rebounding team. But in the last 10 games, the numbers are much better, and we just have to continue to make that a priority.

“We know we’re not going to be the best rebounding team in the country. We’ve prioritized not turning the ball over so that that evens it out, and ultimately, we just want to maximize our possessions as well as we can. If we can be even on the glass, we feel that’s a good thing.”

And just wait until Ainge uses the assets he has and adds at least one other All-Star type player to this roster for Stevens to utilize.

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt