Friday’s whomping of the Phoenix Suns marked the primary time that the Boston Celtics had entered a recreation with a clear invoice of well being since their February 4 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The previous two months have consisted of a wholesome mixture of nagging accidents and relaxation for a few of the workforce’s star gamers, however they didn’t miss a beat in opposition to the Suns with their top-9 out there. They hardly trailed the guests in any respect en path to a 20-point victory on the parquet.
Boston moved the ball effectively with 28 assists, hardly turned it over, and general performed an environment friendly evening of offense — all whereas they made issues troublesome for the Suns on the opposite finish.
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Photograph by Brian Babineau/NBAE by way of Getty Pictures
Now, let’s not fake that beating up on Phoenix is that this unbelievable feat. We’ve all gotten a have a look at these guys twice up to now two weeks, and it’s been ROUGH. Their protection is method out of sync, and nobody apart from Devin Booker gave them something offensively on this one.
I’m unsure I’ve seen a extra drastic distinction in two groups who had been each considered (at the least considerably) among the many league’s contenders. There’s no disputing that Phoenix seems like a bunch that has misplaced much more video games than they’d anticipated. However, the Cs took care of enterprise on the finish of the day, which is all that we will ask of them.
This complete season has been threaded with discussions of well being and freshness as soon as the playoffs roll round, so seeing everybody in a position to be on the ground is actually encouraging in that regard.
“It’s simply ensuring we get reps,” stated Joe Mazzulla of his workforce’s availability. “Clearly you need to get some reps of these guys, so long as we keep our well being, which I believe we did. And I assumed they had been in a position to execute and talk with one another on each ends of the ground.”
Talking of sustaining well being, Jaylen Brown was wonderful on this recreation. Regardless of looming issues about his proper knee, Brown scored a team-high 31 factors on an environment friendly 10-16 from the ground. This outing, paired along with his return to motion in opposition to Miami on Wednesday, made for an encouraging week because the playoffs strategy. Brown hardly favored his knee in any respect in opposition to Phoenix.
He, Jayson Tatum, and Kristaps Porzingis mixed to attain 68 of Boston’s 123 factors.
Two thumbs up.
This matchup additionally served as a little bit of a sneak peek of what’s to return within the postseason by way of Mazzulla’s rotation — although it wasn’t absolutely “foot on the gasoline” sort stuff.
Boston’s lineup ran 9 deep for almost all of this one with the same old suspects taking over the minutes.
Al Horford, Sam Hauser, and Payton Pritchard all performed 20+ minutes off the bench, whereas Luke Kornet performed simply 15.
There was additionally no signal of Baylor Scheierman till rubbish time. Kornet’s quick minutes and Scheierman’s lack of any in any respect are a bit stunning, contemplating how effectively they’ve performed over the previous few weeks. On the identical time, you possibly can solely be so stunned when the rotation is being shortened for giant video games.
Somebody is at all times going to should lose taking part in time in that scenario.
The fellows who shall be taking part in within the playoffs appeared very comfy, which is all that issues. Particularly when there was some extent of this season when that wasn’t the case. They’ve clearly come a good distance from Porzingis’s return from damage again in November and have discovered from their midseason rising pains.
With the primary spherical of the playoffs simply over two weeks away, the Celtics appear like they’re hitting their stride, successful 15 of their final 17.
“Hold persevering with to construct that camaraderie, clicking on all cylinders, after which, you recognize, simply rolling,” Brown stated. “I believe we’re taking part in some nice basketball proper now, and it’s the time of yr you need to be, so we need to prioritize well being. It’s not going to be excellent, however as a workforce, if we work collectively and we preserve emphasizing workforce, I believe we’ve sufficient.”
