As they end out the common season this weekend, the Celtics don’t have anything to play for within the standings. They’re locked in to the No. 2 seed within the Eastern Conference.
But they nonetheless don’t wish to lose.
“Regardless of who’s playing, I want to win,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned earlier than Friday’s recreation in opposition to the Raptors.
Just a few inexcusable losses to inferior groups value the Celtics the No. 1 seed, however Mazzulla has in any other case praised the Celtics’ professionalism all through the season. No matter who’s on the ground – even Friday’s shorthanded version – he feels just like the Celtics all the time have an ideal likelihood to win, a testomony to their depth. Even as they do their greatest to offer their regulars correct relaxation earlier than a very powerful video games, the Celtics are deep sufficient to win each night time.
Friday was the most recent instance. Without Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, and on the final second, Jaylen Brown, the Celtics weren’t in the least frightened. They nonetheless had Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Al Horford, Robert Williams and a group round them that make up one of the best bench unit within the league. Tatum scored 21 factors, and didn’t even must play the second half. Sam Hauser and Co. dealt with the remainder as they took care of enterprise with a 121-102 win over the Raptors, finishing a two-game sweep of their rivals up north.
After the Raptors misplaced to clinch the No. 9 seed and the Nets beat the Magic to seal the No. 6 seed, it’s assured the Celtics will face both the Heat or Hawks within the first spherical of the playoffs. Those two groups will face off within the 7-8 play-in recreation on Tuesday night time.
Hauser, who began for Brown, led all scorers with a career-high 26 factors on six 3-pointers and the primary three dunks of his profession in rubbish time – which despatched the Celtics bench right into a frenzy – that put the exclamation level on a stress-free, simple victory.
“I wasn’t paying attention to the enjoyment, I was paying attention to the mindset that we brought to start the game, and that’s more important,” Mazzulla mentioned. “We had no reason to be competitive and play the way we did other than it’s the right thing to do. You can have fun after you do that.”
Friday’s recreation was by no means actually unsure. The Celtics led 19-4 within the opening minutes and took a 36-point lead late within the second quarter. They truly dedicated 13 first-half turnovers, however made up for it with hustle performs, robust protection and rebounding and effectivity. They went 15-for-15 on two-pointers within the first half, the primary workforce within the final 25 years to take action in a single half.
The Celtics’ huge cushion allowed Mazzulla to sit down Tatum for the beginning of the second half. The Raptors minimize it to 18 early within the third quarter, however the C’s pulled away behind sizzling capturing from Hauser and Payton Pritchard – who returned from his heel harm to attain 22 factors – and even some shock dunks from Hauser.
The first got here late within the third quarter, when Horford discovered Hauser on a two-on-one quick break that ended with Hauser finishing a one-handed jam over Precious Achiuwa. On the Celtics bench, Luke Kornet led a raucous celebration. Hauser proceeded so as to add two extra dunks within the fourth quarter.
“I think you could see our reaction, we were caught off guard for sure,” Tatum mentioned. “But we were pretty pumped and excited for him because we’d never really seen Sam do that before.”
Hauser mentioned he hadn’t actually dunked in a recreation since highschool. He beloved the bench’s response.
“I just needed some space, you know?” Hauser mentioned. “I gotta load up. I’m not as quick-twitch as different guys. I would like a bit of little bit of time to load up and take off. So I had some open ones tonight. It felt good. It felt good to get a few them tonight. …
“When you don’t do something very often, and when you do it, it’s like, it gets everyone – even when I see other people do things, it gets me excited. So I’m glad that they showed some emotion and it’s cool to see them celebrating something I did.”
There was loads of celebrating on Friday night time at TD Garden. On one sequence within the fourth quarter, Blake Griffin grabbed one other offensive rebound, then swung a nonchalant behind-the-back go to Pritchard for a nook 3-pointer. As the Raptors referred to as timeout, Griffin held his arm, pretending it was drained. Tatum was the primary to greet him on the court docket, laughing on the sequence.
There’s nonetheless one recreation left within the common season, however the vibes are definitely excessive for these Celtics on the proper time as they head into the playoffs.
“It’s good to have one of those games where kind of everything’s clicking,” Hauser mentioned. “But I mean, obviously there’s still some things we can clean up with the turnovers, but when everything’s clicking like that, and everyone’s making shots, obviously things are fun. And you’re getting stops on defense, that’s always fun, too. People are diving on the floor or offensive rebounding, that stuff’s fun. And winning like that is really fun. So hopefully we can carry that over to Sunday and finish out the year on a high note.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com