NEW YORK — After a win over the Wizards final weekend, Celtics interim coach Joe Mazzulla wasn’t shy about his preferences.
“I love 3-pointers,” Mazzulla stated. “I like math. I love open 3s.”
On Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden, Mazzulla will need to have been dwelling in paradise.
Early on this season, particularly with out the providers of Robert Williams, Mazzulla is aware of that the power of his crew is their offensive versatility, and as Saturday confirmed, their shot-making. The Celtics set a franchise report with 26 3-pointers as they ran away from the Knicks in a 133-118 victory.
– The Celtics’ second unit got here up huge once more. An evening after flipping the sport in a formidable first-half run after which contributing vital fourth-quarter minutes to shut out a win over the Bulls, the bench was instrumental in turning the tides in Boston’s favor.
The C’s opened the sport with a barrage of 3-pointers to take an early lead earlier than falling behind by two late within the interval. But Joe Mazzulla has preferred the lineup of Jayson Tatum plus 4 reserves and went to the mixture once more. It labored once more. The 5 of Tatum, Malcolm Brogdon, Sam Hauser, Grant Williams and Noah Vonleh went on a 10-2 run late within the first to present the C’s the lead earlier than constructing on it with an 11-0 run to start out the second quarter.
Hauser was instrumental within the turnaround. The sharpshooter lit up the nets at Madison Square Garden by making 4 of his first 5 3-pointers. He scored a career-high 14 factors earlier than midpoint of the second because the Celtics constructed a 14-point lead.
– With Al Horford for the second leg of the Celtics’ back-to-back, Blake Griffin – who didn’t play in Friday’s win over the Bulls – earned the beginning, whereas Vonleh was the primary backup huge off the bench. That was shocking, given Luke Kornet has emerged because the Celtics’ first huge man off the bench. But although he traveled with the crew and went by means of pregame warmups, he was reportedly unavailable attributable to private causes, based on NBC Sports Boston.
– Rob Williams was at Madison Square Garden on Saturday – an vital step in his restoration course of from left knee surgical procedure – nevertheless it was a reminder that the Celtics proceed to overlook his protection. Without Horford or Kornet, the Celtics lacked rim safety within the frontcourt and let their foot off the gasoline within the second quarter, when the Knicks went on a 14-2 run and principally obtained no matter they wished – whether or not it was inside or out – and briefly took the lead.
Source: www.bostonherald.com