Friday’s whomping of the Phoenix Suns marked the primary time that the Boston Celtics had entered a sport 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 group’s star gamers, however they didn’t miss a beat in opposition to the Suns with their top-9 accessible. They hardly trailed the guests in any respect en path to a 20-point victory on the parquet.
Boston moved the ball nicely with 28 assists, hardly turned it over, and total performed an environment friendly evening of offense — all whereas they made issues troublesome for the Suns on the opposite finish.
Photograph by Brian Babineau/NBAE by way of Getty Photographs
Now, let’s not fake that beating up on Phoenix is that this unbelievable feat. We’ve all gotten a take a look at these guys twice prior to now two weeks, and it’s been ROUGH. Their protection is manner out of sync, and nobody in addition to Devin Booker gave them something offensively on this one.
I’m undecided 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 to be like a bunch that has misplaced way 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 are able to 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 group’s availability. “Clearly you need to get some reps of these guys, so long as we preserve our well being, which I believe we did. And I believed 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 glorious on this sport. Regardless of looming considerations about his proper knee, Brown scored a team-high 31 factors on an environment friendly 10-16 from the ground. This outing, paired together with his return to motion in opposition to Miami on Wednesday, made for an encouraging week because the playoffs method. 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 totally “foot on the gasoline” kind stuff.
Boston’s lineup ran 9 deep for almost all of this one with the standard suspects taking on 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 nicely they’ve performed over the previous few weeks. On the identical time, you’ll be able to solely be so stunned when the rotation is being shortened for large video games.
Somebody is all the time going to should lose taking part in time in that scenario.
The fellows who will likely be taking part in within the playoffs appeared very snug, which is all that issues. Particularly when there was a degree of this season when that wasn’t the case. They’ve clearly come a great distance from Porzingis’s return from harm again in November and have realized 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, profitable 15 of their final 17.
“Preserve persevering with to construct that camaraderie, clicking on all cylinders, after which, , 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 good, however as a group, if we work collectively and we hold emphasizing group, I believe we have now sufficient.”
