Robb: Celtics unlock best version of themselves in win over Raptors

On the heels of scoring their most points in a game in nearly 30 years on Wednesday night, the Celtics followed up that record-breaking performance with wire-to-wire domination of one of the two remaining undefeated teams in Orlando bubble Friday with a 122-100 win over the Raptors. Instead of celebrating the effort, Brad Stevens was looking to turn the page before the night even ended.

"This game will mean nothing if we get that opportunity again," the head coach said. "They're a really good team. And I thought they missed a lot of open looks and just wasn't their night.

"I thought our guys played well, though. But it won't mean anything in a couple of weeks."

If you listened to Stevens close enough, one might have wondered if the Celtics had anything to do with the blowout wins in the first place, minimizing any positive steps the team took after winning by an average of 28 points the last two nights.

"Well, on Wednesday morning I didn't think we were very good," Stevens said, after Friday’s 22-point win. "So I'm not sure I've changed just with two nights' sleep. We have played a little better the last two games, but we have a long way to go to get to where we want to be."

Don’t let Stevens tough love from Friday night fool you, something that sounded like Bill Belichick in his prime: The Celtics became a nightmare matchup for the NBA’s best defense in the bubble in Orlando, turning a tight first quarter into 12 minutes of garbage time by the fourth quarter.

In their final tuneup against an elite opponent before the postseason, the Celtics clearly had something to prove on both ends of the floor after lackluster outings to start life in Disney World. In fact, the team’s defensive struggles even caught the eye of Jayson Tatum earlier in the week before Wednesday's initial turnaround.

“I saw something, we were like the last team or one of the last teams in defense in the bubble, and that’s just kind of unacceptable for us with the elite defenders we have on this team and just collectively, our identity, who we want to be,” the All-Star said. “We have to take more pride in that. I think today was a good step in the right direction, but we’ve got to continue to get back to who we are and guard how we normally do.”

The shots started falling for the C’s in the second quarter (70 combined points in the middle periods) but the formula for the win was established early on the defensive end of the floor. Toronto only scored two points in the first five minutes of the game and managed a season-low 37 points in the first half, the lowest total a Celtic opponent had scored in a half all year long.

The end result was impressive but the fact remains that nothing was on the line for either team in this matchup. Toronto had locked up the No. 2 seed already with three straight wins so they were playing for pride and nothing more. That reality has the players taking a similar mentality as their head coach to ensure they don’t get a big head over a couple of important performances for the team's rhythm but ultimately meaningless wins for the ultimate goal.

“I think the last two games we were definitely better on the defensive end,” Theis said after posting 11 points and 11 rebounds. “But today was just one game. It’s probably not the Toronto team we want to see in the playoffs, in case we’re going to play them again in the second round. But overall I think we played physical. We started from the first second we played defense, we didn’t give up any easy layups, any open looks. So that’s the way we have to play every game.”

Winning with the pass

The promising signs weren’t just on the defensive end of the floor though. Jaylen Brown (20 points) led a tightened C’s rotation that included eight players with nine or more points. More importantly, the ball was popping around the perimeter as the scoring load was shared with the Green piling up 27 assists for the second straight game. Boston improved to 12-0 on the season when they crossed that threshold.

“I think that’s who we should be,” Tatum said of the ball movement. “We’ve got so many talented guys on this team, especially on the offensive end. When we move the ball like that I think we’re really, really hard to guard. Obviously Toronto is a really good defensive team. We know if we see them again they’re going to obviously play better. Just moving the ball like we did, I think that makes us harder to guard.”

“It’s just important to us, generally,” Brad Stevens added. “I think the biggest thing is that when the ball doesn’t stick, we’re pretty good. We really had a large emphasis on that. Not only tonight but the other night as well. We gotta keep sharing it and keep making plays for others. Our players are really good, they’re going to draw a lot of help, when they do, it’s just a matter of making the right read and doing that over and over.”

A rotation shift?

One of the main beneficiaries of all of those assists was Robert Williams, who maintained his hold as the first big off the bench for the second straight game after a career-high 18 points against the Nets. Williams (10 points on 4/5 FG) had all four of his baskets setup with crisp passing from C’s guards taking advantage of his rim-running. However, the bigger development for the big man is coming from the defensive end against an elite opponent like Toronto. Williams held his own once against tough Raptor reserve bigs (Serge Ibaka, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson) and was in the middle of a couple game-changing C’s runs (+13 in 11 minutes).

That play strengthened his hold on the backup center spot and relegated Enes Kanter to a DNP-CD with Williams providing terrific activity along with Theis (11 points, 11 rebounds) on both ends of the floor.

“I thought he did a really good job, even when got scored on in the first half,” Stevens said of Williams. “I thought that -- with the exception of the one where Lowry turned the corner, I think it was Lowry -- I thought even in the ones they made, when Robert was in pick and roll, he kept in front, used his length, and challenged. If he does that, that’s great. Very active, rebounded well, he was a threat at the rim again. He did a good job.”

With Stevens playing his top wings for longer stints in preparation for playoff minutes, he was able to shrink the need for some other wing rotation players off Boston’s young bench. Even with minutes reduced elsewhere, Williams has played well enough to take hold of what's left and provide the type of rim protection and finishing that have kept the front office high on Williams all year long despite constant physical issues popping up along the way. His play over the past two games are going to make it tough to deny him more opportunities moving forward.

Setting the stage for an easy final week

Boston’s win on Friday puts them one win (or a Heat loss) away from clinching the No. 3 seed with three seeding games to play in Orlando. That cushion will give the coaching staff plenty of flexibility in terms of how the team wants to manage the physical fitness and health of the team’s core.

“All of our plans will be based on good health and good conditioning going into the playoffs,” Stevens said Friday night before the win. “So we're going to play guys normal minutes in at least a few of these games, up to three, I'd say and maybe four, depending on what we look like the next three. It just kind of depends on how we feel. We'll have plenty of time to get rested for the playoffs, with three or four days in between our last game and the start of it. So I'd say conditioning and playing takes precedent for us as of tonight. that may change as we move forward towards the end of next week.”

Putting together a standout effort like we saw Friday should put Stevens’ mind at ease a little bit when deciding how he wants to handle his final preparations. We’ve now seen the Celtics at their best in Orlando against a good team after falling flat vs. the Bucks and Heat so that’s not an effort that Stevens is going to have to chase in these final few games as a tuneup. There’s no guarantee that the C’s will be able to sustain this version of themselves but they have gotten there after a rocky start in the first few games. That was ultimately the goal during these seeding games leading into the postseason.