The Celtics have run via the NBA with such relative ease this season that their losses grow to be a nationwide storyline, a sudden trigger for concern. Their first dropping streak in 4 months this week raised questions on their skill to win a championship.
It was nearly exhausting to imagine that it was only a two-game dropping streak.
The Celtics left Denver with loads of classes discovered, and possibly a needed reset. While they is probably not excellent, and never fairly a completed product, they’ve stayed constant of their strategy and mindset all season. And on Saturday night time in Phoenix, they confirmed the resilience to adversity that has been a trademark for them with an vital bounce-back 117-107 win over the Suns.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 factors, Jaylen Brown added 27 factors, and the Celtics’ bench had certainly one of its greatest performances of the season. The C’s, after scuffling with the main points in Thursday’s loss to the Nuggets, have been sharp on the margins. They have been locked in defensively, and crisp offensively. And ultimately, they pulled out a win in crunch time – overcoming Kevin Durant’s 45 factors – to efficiently keep away from what would have been their first three-game dropping streak of the season.
“We’re not perfect. We try to be. We really do try,” Tatum informed reporters in Phoenix. “But we make mistakes and things like that. This is a tough league. Other teams are really good, got great players. So it’s all about how you respond. If you want to be a special team, you gotta do a really good job of responding.”
The Celtics have been with out Kristaps Porzingis, who missed the sport with proper hamstring tightness, however the harm will not be thought-about to be critical.
The Celtics have been per their course of all night time on Saturday. They managed the sport for the ultimate three quarters and by no means gave up the lead. Despite some absurd shot-making from Durant, they stayed poised within the ultimate moments. The Celtics led by double digits with lower than 5 minutes remaining earlier than Durant almost willed the Suns again by himself. The Suns lower the deficit to 5 late, however misfired on three consecutive 3-pointers that might have made it a one-possession sport.
The Celtics, who’ve caught criticism for his or her late-game execution this week, had the solutions on Saturday. On a well-executed play, Jrue Holiday slipped between a display screen and located a wide-open Al Horford within the nook, the place he drilled a 3-pointer to place the C’s up eight with 1:54 to go. Brown proceeded to drive a turnover on Durant on the subsequent possession, and the Celtics coasted from there.
The Celtics, who had a number of double-digit leads all through the night time, took a number of good punches from Durant and the Suns however stayed in management.
“It’s about managing runs,” Mazzulla informed reporters. “For the most part, I liked the discipline that we played with as far as game management, and I think that’s the biggest lesson that we took from last game and it’s the standard that we have to hold ourselves is just elite game management and elite discipline on both ends of the floor, and we had more possessions tonight of that than we did last game.”
Other takeaways from the win:
– The bench has been constant for the Celtics all season and it was no totally different on Saturday as Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet gave them nice minutes. That trio scored 27 factors, together with 14 from Kornet and 10 from Pritchard, however Mazzulla preferred their protection much more.
“They were amazing. They were tremendous,” Mazzulla stated. “I assumed Payton modified the sport, simply total along with his protection. Him and Sam each are generally known as offensive guys however I feel it’s their protection that’s actually helped us this yr. Luke’s skill to play versus a second unit and switching actually gave us an excellent look. …
“That unit has been great for us all year, but tonight they were big-time.”
– Tatum performed the whole thing of the second half, which is definitely uncommon. Mazzulla stated the Celtics star requested him if he might, and he obliged.
Tatum went on to attain 22 of his 29 factors within the second half, together with 13 within the fourth quarter as he bounced again from a pair of forgettable performances earlier this week. Still, he was exhausting on himself after the win.
“I finally stopped turning the ball over,” Tatum informed ABC. “I’m thankful I got some great teammates because I stunk it up tonight.”
“It’s all about progression, just trying to get better every single day, having the right intentions, knowing that you’re not going to be perfect,” Tatum continued. “I’m tough on myself, but you gotta move on, move on to the next play, the next game, and that’s what you’re on a team for. You got great teammates and coaches to keep you uplifted and just stay with it.”
– The Celtics’ temporary dropping streak definitely uncovered a few of their flaws, however they didn’t let their struggles snowball. Mazzulla praised his group for protecting their composure via a brief tough stretch.
“I think the most important thing was to handle the losses the way we handle the wins, and I think the guys showed a great maturity and great mindset and a great approach to the process when we’re winning, and that’s hard to do,” Mazzulla stated. “Throughout that 11-game win streak, I didn’t see much slippage in the details and the effort and the things that we were doing and so you just have to maintain that through the losses, and so I think it’s really important to keep that balance.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com