When the Celtics had their sit down with Kevin Durant they told him how to beat the Warriors and Cavaliers - since they were the only visiting team to do that in Golden State and Cleveland last season.
Now that Durant signed with the Warriors, Celtics forward Jae Crowder, who was in the meeting, is wishing they hadn’t given those secrets away.
"We were the only team in the NBA to beat both [Cleveland and Golden State] on their home court — the only team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics," Crowder told MassLive.com at an appearance at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield on Thursday. "We told him that. We played him clips from both games and told him basically the scouting report of how we guarded Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] — our entire game plan, basically. That's what made me mad. We [expletive] told him everything we do to beat these guys, and we beat them, and he went and joined them. I mean, that's part of the process, but I did not think he would go to those two teams ... I felt like afterward, I was talking to [teammate] Isaiah [Thomas], like maybe after you sit back, you shouldn't have told him everything, but who the [expletive] thought he was going to Golden State, realistically? It was like a slap in the face for us, basically."
The move that shocked the NBA has made league’s newest superteam “the villain of the league,” Crowder said.
"Every other NBA guy, friends of mine, are really disgusted from how the league is turning on that standpoint. Everybody is joining together, everybody wants to go to Golden State or Cleveland."
Crowder said he’s looking forward to playing Golden State, but knows the Celtics must first focus on winning the Eastern Conference and the champion Cavs.
”I’m looking for sure to beat Golden State the most, probably, but at the end of the day, our task is the Eastern Conference," he said. "We have to see Cleveland. That's where my focus is, that's what drives me. We have to beat those guys to advance."