There’s 4:10 to go within the fourth quarter. Quentin Grimes pulls up from the nook, nails a 3, and attracts a foul. Madison Sq. Backyard erupts because the New York Knicks take a six-point lead, their greatest of the night time in a sport the place the Boston Celtics as soon as led by 12.
It capped off a disastrous stretch for Jaylen Brown and the Celtics that noticed a tie sport flip right into a six-point deficit in lower than a minute of sport time.
For the 2022-23 Celtics, this case spelled catastrophe. It marked the start of the top following a brutal collapse in a contest they need to have closed out within the third quarter. However on Opening Night time, whereas the 2023-24 Celtics nonetheless fell into the identical offensive traps that acquired them into the state of affairs, they did what their predecessors couldn’t: They fought out of it.
At that very same 4:10 mark, following the foul, Joe Mazzulla known as a timeout – an act he was oft-criticized for final season – and from then on out, the Celtics rolled.
“Man, that was huge, proper?” Tatum stated after the sport. “For us to name that timeout proper there and determine it out.”
Within the ultimate 4:10, Boston went on a 15-5 run to shut out the sport, permitting simply two Knicks area targets whereas additionally limiting their effectiveness on the offensive glass. “We stopped fouling, we restricted them to at least one shot, and we executed on the offensive finish,” stated Mazzulla.
New York pulled in a whopping 17 offensive boards towards the Celtics, and Isaiah Hartenstein led the cost. He snagged 5 of his personal, and when he wasn’t grabbing the ball himself, Hartenstein was in a position to poke it unfastened for a teammate. His inside presence gave the Celtics nightmares all sport.
And whereas he nonetheless managed to sneak in an offensive putback on the 0:18 mark, it was one in all solely two offensive rebounds within the ultimate 4:10, one in all which was a meaningless pick-up by Immanuel Quickley within the dying moments of the sport.
One yr in the past, the Celtics would have crumbled. Come-from-behind wins have been an every-night prevalence in Boston, nevertheless it was all the time the opponent finishing the feat. However to open the 2023-24 season, the Celtics made a press release.
“Resilient,” new addition Jrue Vacation stated of the Celtics after the sport. “Irrespective of if we’re down 10 factors with 4 minutes to go, we all the time have an opportunity. I believe we sort of simply band[ed] collectively, began executing on each ends of the ground and acquired the required performs that we would have liked.”
The Celtics’ late-game defensive lock-in was matched by an offensive gameplan constructed round understanding the state of affairs.
Of Boston’s ultimate 15 factors, two got here off a stupendous lower by Vacation, who completed a layup, three got here from a big-time Kristaps Porzingis three, and the opposite 10 got here from free throws. Ten free throws within the ultimate 4:10.
Boston was within the bonus, and moderately than enjoying the identical run-the-clock-out sport that acquired them in bother final season, they attacked the Knicks, acquired to the road, and have been sensible with their time.
Porzingis’ three with 1:29 remaining was the Celtics’ ultimate area aim of the competition, and it was a dagger, however the free throws that surrounded it have been emblematic of a better, extra calculated Boston squad.
“It was an enormous shot. And vital shot,” Porzingis stated. “[I] made that one, after which Payton got here in – chilly – made some huge free throws. And JT simply carried us all through the sport. So, I really feel like although I hit that shot, it was a crew effort.”
Final season, the narratives across the Celtics all concerned their lack of late-game prowess.
Mazzulla by no means calls timeouts. Tatum and Brown waste an excessive amount of time dribbling. The Celtics accept dangerous threes within the ultimate couple of minutes. The Celtics take their foot off the gasoline.
To open the 2023-24 season, Boston made it some extent to place these narratives to mattress. It’s untimely to tuck them away for good, however on Opening Night time, followers acquired to say goodnight to the previous and embrace a new-look late-game Celtics.
