Moments after Sam Hauser delivered one other profession efficiency, Celtics interim coach Joe Mazzulla was requested how his sharpshooter has earned a lot belief to get so many performs drawn up for him in so little time.
His reply was quick-witted, however not fully fallacious.
“Not miss,” Mazzulla deadpanned.
Hauser, the Celtics’ new bench weapon, definitely hasn’t missed his alternative. Last weekend at Madison Square Garden, Hauser broke out. Four nights later, he one-upped himself.
Jayson Tatum scored 31 factors, Jaylen Brown added 30, however it was Hauser who shined probably the most once more within the Celtics’ 128-112 victory over the Pistons on Wednesday. The second-year ahead scored a career-high 24 factors, which included a career-high six triples, within the blowout victory.
Hauser hasn’t made each shot, however most of them. After Wednesday’s efficiency, Hauser has made 24 of his first 44 seems of the season from lengthy vary, which locations him among the many NBA’s greatest. He’s not solely filling the function left by Danilo Gallinari, however exceeding expectations, incomes extra belief each sport because the C’s proceed to search out him in any approach attainable.
“I just think it’s that, honestly,” Hauser stated of Mazzulla’s evaluation that he doesn’t miss. “You gotta show you can do it in games and in game-like moments. I think I’ve done that so far. Little by little, I’m earning more trust from Joe. And I still gotta keep doing the other things out there to earn minutes out there and keep earning my spot in the rotation.”
Hauser’s buckets got here in massive moments on Wednesday, too, they usually weren’t all from distance.
The Celtics discovered themselves up by solely three halfway by means of the second quarter however did an excellent job in weathering their sloppy play and a sequence of Pistons runs with the assistance of Hauser, who helped the C’s make a robust counter-punch to finish the half on a wanted run.
He scored in different methods than from 3, first hitting a runner within the lane earlier than later sandwiching in a 3-pointer between two back-door cuts, the place Al Horford and Tatum every discovered him for simple seems. The Celtics went on to construct a 14-point halftime lead behind Hauser’s continued manufacturing off the bench earlier than Brown went on a roll.
“I think you’ve seen a couple easy ones go,” Hauser stated. “I think it opens up the whole floor for you. Definitely puts more confident in the shot when you go back to the 3-point line. So, definitely getting those easy ones help.”
That confidence carried to the second half, the place the Celtics continued to regulate the sport however felt the Pistons lingering. Hauser helped finish any menace of a comeback, hitting back-to-back 3s because the Celtics constructed a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter, and coasted from there.
Hauser hit a pair extra 3s in rubbish time within the fourth to set his profession mark. On his strategy to it, he soaked within the moments from the Garden crowd, who he heard get loud as he launched every 3.
“it’s pretty cool, kind of a surreal moment,” Hauser stated. “You dream of this stage when you’re young, and then finally being here knocking down shots in front of the best fans in the NBA, it’s something special. So I definitely don’t take it for granted.”
Other takeaways from the win:
– Malcolm Brogdon was dominated out for the remainder of the sport at halftime after experiencing proper hamstring tightness. It got here after an uneven half for the purpose guard, who offered an preliminary spark – together with a powerful sequence by which he blocked Bojan Bogdanovic earlier than discovering Al Horford for a dunk in transition – however he additionally dedicated 4 turnovers because the Celtics second unit let the Pistons again within the sport.
Mazzulla stated after the sport that the Celtics have been nonetheless evaluating Brogdon and would know extra about his standing on Thursday.
With Brogdon out of the sport within the second, Payton Pritchard made his first look because the Celtics’ win over the Wizards on Oct. 30. After lacking 4 consecutive video games, Pritchard, who has fallen out of the rotation behind guards Brogdon, Marcus Smart and Derrick White, earned a loud ovation from the Garden crowd as he checked in with 3:55 to go within the third quarter.
– Grant Williams was given his second consecutive beginning nod and whereas he didn’t get his offense going, he performed sound protection once more. He was an enormous motive why the Celtics quieted Pistons star Cade Cunningham, who had simply 4 factors on 1 for 11 capturing.
– After scoring simply 5 factors within the first half, Tatum erupted out of halftime and scored the Celtics’ first 16 factors of the second half.
The Pistons continued to hold round even after that, however Horford credited the Celtics’ maturity with closing them out.
“I felt like the second half we did a better job,” Horford stated. “In the first half, I felt like we could’ve done better. They kind of hung around in the game and in the second half, I felt like we turned it up a notch, played much better, more poise. It’s a sign of growth. Coach challenged us at halftime here to make sure that we were better, and I felt like we were. We did a better job and it’s just continuing to have that consistency on the defensive end.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com