BOSTON — The skipper has no delusions when it comes to his new city’s calendar. Alex Cora knows baseball is only now entering the spotlight for many, even with one-third of the baseball schedule already done.
A big sports fan overall, Cora was one of many Red Sox at the Garden on Sunday night for the Celtics’ Game 7 loss to the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.
“The future is bright,” Cora said. “I was watching and just thinking about what can happen next year. It was fun to watch. And at the same time, when everything was over, kind of like, it hit me: it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s just us now.’ I guess the season starts today.”
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Cora grew up a Lakers fan, but that’s been no interference for him in adopting the C’s.
“I think everybody gave up on them after opening night when [Gordon] Hayward goes down and people just wrote them off,” Cora said. “And then when Kyrie [Irving] went down, that was [supposed to be] it. And you know, just listening to Brad [Stevens] and listening to players, the learning process, it seems like on a daily basis, regardless of the results throughout the season and through the playoffs, they keep teaching the game. Something that we do feel we have to do here. Sometimes, most of the time we take some of these guys for granted.
“You could start looking around, Xander [Bogaerts] gets called up to be a part of a team that won the World Series, skipping a few steps of development. Andrew [Benintendi] the same thing, [Rafael] Devers the same thing. That was something we were talking about the other day, like on a daily basis: regardless of how good these players are, you got to teach them. It’s not only on-the-field stuff, it’s about preparation. What to look [for] on video, what to look [for] in the numbers, structure as far as preparation. That’s something Brad did throughout the season.”
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Stevens visited the Red Sox in spring training but he and Cora haven’t been able to connect too often to this point.
“I saw him after Game 7 after they beat the Bucks, saw him after the game and talked a little bit about how proud he is, the way the guys are playing, that hopefully it takes him a while before he starts coming to [Red Sox] games,” Cora said. “But just watching him and the way he goes about his business, it’s fun to watch. Everybody here, we’re lucky. We’re lucky … if you’re a sports fan and live here in Boston. This is fun: the Patriots, Bruins, the Celtics, our team. It’s cool.”
Cora played basketball until eighth grade, but he’s always enjoyed following the sport. Dwayne Wade is Cora’s favorite player, but he has great respect for LeBron James.
“I was telling Xander, and Xander said, ‘He’s doing it by himself,’” Cora said. “And I said, ‘Well, Xander early in [Michael] Jordan’s career, it was that way, but the teams [James] played against, they were a lot better. … Although he scored 65, it was hard for him to win games, win series. And eight finals in a row? Regardless of [whether] it’s in Miami with those guys, with Dwayne and Ray [Allen] and those guys, or Cleveland with Kyrie, or by himself, it’s special. We’re lucky to see what he’s doing.
“The preparation, what it takes to go out there and play the whole game. It’s funny, I was watching and Tyronn [Lue] tried to take him out and he’s like, ‘No, I’m good.’ Then the TV timeout, and the timeout they called — I think that was huge right there, you could see it. It was fun to watch.”
Cora was hoping for a Celtics-Rockets final. The Sox travel to Houston, where Cora won a World Series last season with the Astros, to begin a four-game series on Thursday.
“Would have loved to change the dress code for Thursday to go to Houston,” Cora said, “but I guess we’ll go casual now.”