After whirlwind, Krstic settling in quite nicely

Nenad Krstic didn’t do anything gaudy or flashy last night. He played a little over 21 minutes in the 115-103 dispatch of the Phoenix Suns. He just did what he does, and when it was over he had a quietly efficient 13 points. He grabbed three of his four rebounds in the opening minutes as the Celtics opened up a lead, and he only turned it over once. I’m gonna think Doc Rivers will take that effort many times over.

The 27-year-old Serb is still a bit bedazzled by the events of the past few days.

He wasn’t having the greatest year of his life in Oklahoma City. More and more the Thunder had become the “Kevin [Durant] & Russell [Westbrook] Show.’’ If Green, the team’s No. 3 scorer, was deemed expendable, where was that going to leave Krstic, who was down to about 7 points per game and was no longer in favor? But no one said anything, so he fully expected to wake up last Friday as a member of the Thunder.

“I didn’t expect anything to happen,’’ he said. “I spoke to my agent and he said, ‘Nothing’s happening.’ I found out from my agent about a half-hour before the trading deadline. He said, ‘You’re going to be very happy.’ When I sat down to think about it, I’m really happy to be playing for the best team in the Eastern Conference.’’