Off-the-court storylines dominated the lead-up to Saturday night time’s sport towards the Rockets: How would the workforce reply to a blowout so unhealthy towards their Jap Convention rivals that TNT modified the channel?
What about Ime Udoka being again within the constructing – would the difficult reunion, and the entire media hype round it, in the end function a distraction? And what about sustaining the franchise-best house successful streak – was the strain beginning to mount?
Just a few quarters of stable – however not good – basketball started to erase these storylines and assist elevate the Celtics’ file to a historic 19-0 at house and an NBA-best, 30-9 general.
The Celtics defeated the Rockets 145-113 behind dominant performances from their two All NBA wings and a 3rd quarter that noticed the Celtics explode for 43 factors and a 26-point lead heading into the ultimate interval.
By the tip of the night time, Ime Udoka’s pregame presser, which was crammed with a plethora of questions on his ambiguous suspension and its well-chronicled aftermath, was a lingering reminiscence.
Followers met the previous coach’s return with a wholesome mixture of boos and applause, and for essentially the most half, gamers and coaches alike minimized the gravity of all of it.
Joe Mazzulla was pleased with the physicality and protection within the third quarter, but in addition acknowledged that there was room to enhance. The Rockets received the shot margin, for instance, a metric Mazzulla usually references – Houston tried 99 subject targets to Boston’s 95.
“That’s a great win, however we bought to reside within the area of ‘we could be higher,’” Joe Mazzulla stated. Not that something’s fallacious, it doesn’t have to be a giant deal, but when we are able to reside within the area of ‘we’re a great workforce, however it’s not ok,’ that’s a wholesome place to be and that’s how we are able to develop.”
“That’s a great win, however we bought to reside within the area of — we are able to higher. Not that something’s fallacious, it doesn’t have to be a giant deal, but when we are able to reside within the area of ‘we’re a great workforce, however it’s not ok’ that’s a wholesome place to be and that’s how we are able to develop.”
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— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzellNBA) January 14, 2024
When it was all stated and completed, the story of the sport was the recent play of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, in addition to the regular, off-the-bench contributions of Payton Pritchard.
Brown completed with 32 factors in simply three quarters, on a extremely environment friendly 11 of 15 photographs. Within the third quarter alone, he went off for 21 factors, together with 4-5 from three.
“Simply being aggressive on either side of the ball – getting stops, pushing the tempo, had some photographs that I felt good about, and I simply saved being aggressive,” Brown stated. “Hit some threes, we simply saved pushing the tempo, and Houston felt like they had been type of on their heels.”
Brown acknowledged that similar to final month, he felt he was enjoying one of the best basketball of his profession. He’s taking pictures 53.5% from the sector over the course of his final 20 video games, and averaging 24.7 factors.
On the similar time, he’s made leaps as a distributor and defender which have typically been mirrored on the stat sheet, and typically not (tonight, the protection confirmed up within the field rating: 2 blocks, 2 steals).
“This can be a lovely sport that all of us get to observe and play,” Brown stated. “I’m having enjoyable studying and attempting to achieve my full potential, on prime of being a workforce man, on prime of creating positive our guys are in the precise spots and being the lead, it’s been enjoyable attempting to determine methods to be one of the best model of Jaylen Brown and because the time has gone on, because the years have gone on, I really feel like I’ve gotten higher each 12 months, and I don’t suppose that’s going to cease anytime quickly.”
Jayson Tatum wasn’t too shabby both, placing up 27 factors on the night time. Tatum famous the workforce did actually need the win, however not particularly as a result of the Celtics had been dealing with Udoka’s Rockets.
“We bought our a## kicked the opposite night time. So, I needed to bounce again from that,” Tatum stated. “Did I need to win tonight? Yeah, I need to win each sport we play. So, it wasn’t like we’re enjoying Ime and people guys, I actually need to win. It was extra like, I need to bounce again from final sport.”
Tatum did most of his harm within the second quarter, when he put up 15 factors on simply six shot makes an attempt, earlier than getting ejected with two technical fouls early within the fourth.
Payton Pritchard was phenomenal off the bench, ending with 19 factors on 7-10 photographs, 4 rebounds (2 offensive), and three assists – together with an off-the-backboard alley-oop to Oshae Brissett within the closing minutes.
With the win, the Celtics bounce again from a 33-point highway loss vs the Bucks to ship yet one more victory for the house TD Backyard crowd. Jaylen Brown acknowledged the off-court distractions take a toll, however that this stretch within the season is vital in the long term.
“These are the moments that get you mentally ready for deep playoff runs,” Brown stated.
