BOSTON (CBS) — Celtics head coach Brad Stevens had a tough call to make on Saturday night, and it had nothing to do with any plays on the hardwood.

The C’s charter flight to Oklahoma City received a bomb threat after it had taken off, and Stevens was one of the few people on board made aware of the situation. The news was broken to him about an hour before they were scheduled to land, and he was assured that the crew had not noticed anything out of the ordinary when they did their pre-flight screenings of the plane, which includes another round of checks after the plane was boarded. The cockpit believed the threat was very likely a hoax, and more checks were carried out after the threat was received.

So rather than potentially cause any hysteria on board, Stevens kept the news to himself. He explained why he made that decision Wednesday afternoon on his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak & Bertrand.

“In a lot of ways, [the pre-flight check] gives you a great peace of mind. There is a lot going through your mind at the time, but [the lead flight attendant] and our travel manager said it would be best if we don’t make this something everyone is talking about. I get that, to an extent, and see both sides of it,” he said. “It’s not a comfortable situation and there’s no handbook for the situation. Her poise (the lead attendant) and the cockpit’s poise in reassuring us that they had done their jobs and checked everything over and over and through and through, and felt good about it, reassured me quite a bit.”

It was pretty clear something was up when the Celtics landed and didn’t immediately head for the gate. Instead, they were met by a cavalry of FBI agents and local officials on the tarmac, who Stevens said couldn’t have been more professional.

“At that point, everyone knows it’s something unique,” said Stevens. “We deplane in the middle of the runway with all these lights in front of us. It’s like the scene in Christmas Vacation when all the cop cars are flying up to the house and everything else,” said Stevens. “Then they take us to the fire station and the FBI, which was a ton of people that responded quickly and swiftly and really diligently. They interviewed every single person in our travel party and we got out of there about an hour later.

“It was a unique situation, nonetheless,” said Stevens. “I’ve never been so excited to get to our hotel in Oklahoma City.”

Listen to Stevens’ full interview with Zo & Beetle, including a preview of Wednesday night’s game in San Antonio and an update on injured guard Isaiah Thomas:



