Jaylen Brown was within the midst of among the finest stretches of his basketball profession, and he was feeling it. The Celtics have been about to place away the Magic for good, and he sensed it.
Midway by the fourth quarter, Brown delivered a dagger. Jayson Tatum corralled a Magic miss, and gave it to Brown. His sizzling fingers did the remainder. He took three dribbles and pulled up from 28 toes. The shot, after all, went in. TD Garden erupted. The Magic referred to as timeout. Brown saluted the gang.
And on the sideline, his coach confirmed a uncommon case of emotion. He pumped his left fist with authority. And he let loose a giant roar because the Celtics got here again to the huddle. Sunday’s victory over the Magic was in little doubt.
“I think the players need to see that sometimes,” Mazzulla mentioned. “I do, like everyone else, care about profitable, and I do have enjoyable. And I simply thought it was a second to point out, I feel we’re beginning to play what I’d name Celtic basketball.
“From a mentality standpoint, from a toughness standpoint, from a defensive standpoint, and identity, reflecting what it means to play like the Celtics, I think this week we’ve shown that, and I think the crowd has helped that, and I think our players really working to execute and buying in have helped that.”
Mazzulla challenged the Celtics to method this week prefer it was the playoffs. With a pair of two-game sequence in opposition to playoff-caliber opponents, he wished to see how the Celtics would take the problem of enjoying with the constant mindset he has emphasised all season. By sweeping each sequence, Mazzulla was inspired. It was a giant step towards the kind of “Celtics basketball” he needs to see.
“What we’re starting to show, right?” Mazzulla mentioned. “Opponents bring out the best in us, they challenge us, and we don’t back down. We chip away at it, and we respond and we dictate the mindset of the game, the physicality of the game, and we’re just kind of playing with that type of identity. I’ve really seen that, especially over the last four games. We may lose it from time to time, but we have to fight to keep this mindset and identity that we have on both ends of the floor.”
It definitely hasn’t at all times been excellent. When the Celtics have been blown out by the Magic in Orlando final month, it supplied them with one thing of a actuality test.
“I think at that point, as we were heading into that Orlando game, we were beating everybody, we were getting wins but we were getting maybe a bit lazy on some small details,” Kristaps Porzingis mentioned. “Offensively, we have been type of a bit of bit slower and I feel from that recreation, we sat down, we appeared on the offense once more, cleaned some issues up.
“Not that it was like a huge turning point but it was something like, ‘OK, this game we really kind of needed to clean some things up.’”
The Celtics have received eight of their final 9 video games since, with the lone loss coming to the Pacers within the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals. After Sunday’s win, they have been extraordinarily pleased with how they completed undefeated this week, given the circumstances. Brown referred to as Friday’s victory the largest of the season as a result of the Celtics didn’t give in to excuse-making regardless of being shorthanded and enjoying on the second evening of a back-to-back. Sunday supplied a unique problem as they tried to brush a tough opponent with an earlier-than-usual 3 p.m. begin time, however the Celtics handed that check, too.
“We can’t skip steps,” Brown mentioned. “Certain teams got our number and Orlando’s been one of those teams in the last year and a half. And we wanted to make sure in this stint that we kind of set a tone and got over that hump. And I think we did a good job. I think we could have played better in spots certainly but it was a good test. Back-to-back, coming into an early game, we took the right mentality and we came out on top. And I like that.”
Tatum went so far as to say that final yr, he doesn’t assume the Celtics would have gone undefeated this week given the circumstances of 4 video games in six nights. It was a method of illustrating how a lot this group has grown.
“This was a challenging week,” Tatum mentioned. “I do know all through the course of the season, we at all times speak about we acquired a protracted option to go, plenty of issues we are able to work on, which is true. But what we did this week was spectacular, I really feel like. I’m not sure that final yr, we might have received all these video games. But enjoying two actually good groups that current completely different challenges; groups that, particularly Orlando, we struggled with up to now. Especially Friday, we had three bigs out and the best way that we performed in that recreation, we discovered a option to win. Winning these 4 video games at dwelling, I don’t know what everyone else thought, but it surely was spectacular and I used to be pleased with the best way we performed. …
“I think we just learn from our mistakes. We’ve learned from things that we didn’t do so well in the past year. We apply them just a little bit better this year from game to game.”
Porzingis nonetheless managing harm
Porzingis didn’t play in Friday’s win due to the left calf pressure that he’s nonetheless managing. He suffered the harm on Nov. 24 in opposition to the Magic and returned after lacking 4 video games. He sat out Friday’s second leg of the back-to-back as he and the Celtics tread cautiously.
“To be honest, it was just a cautionary thing,” Porzingis mentioned. “Not playing a back-to-back. But it felt good. Felt good enough that I could have played. It’s just I think the medical staff taking a more cautious approach, especially the first couple weeks coming back from the calf.”
The Celtics have one other back-to-back this week once they hit the street to play the Warriors and Kings on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. It’s doable Porzingis sits out a type of video games.
“That’s something we just started talking about,” Porzingis mentioned. “We don’t have the answer yet. But they know my stance: I want to play in every game they allow me. But of course, they want to be smart with me and my health. Make sure I’m here for the long picture.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com