I’ve spent way too long trying to figure out an appropriate way to capture how Celtics fans feel right now. It can’t be too euphoric because it’s just two wins over bad teams. It can’t be dismissive, because they’ve actually done something new and positive that we haven't seen yet this season.
So the best thing I could come up with was the feeling of finally going to the bathroom after prolonged constipation.
What else provides such a level of relief after a long, painful stretch but doesn’t fully alleviate the fear that you won’t go through it again soon?
Plus, it’s a little bit gross and that's what this season has been.
Maybe I watch too much daytime TV with ads geared towards a demographic with that particular issue, but that's beside the point. The Celtics were, for once, able to flush away an opponent by doing all the things they were supposed to do, all at the same time, and for a large portion of the game.
“I think we came out focused and had great attention to detail, great intensity, but we did it on both ends of the floor,” Ime Udoka said after the blowout of the Kings. “We guarded extremely well, we got out and ran, moved the ball well, and then obviously making shots changes the game. But our focus was great from the start. Didn't come out and waste time and give them any extra hope with some guys missing and that's what we need to do.”
A focused Celtics team? Who are these guys? And getting out in transition?
“We’ve shown quite a bit of film on that lately. We got 18 kick-ahead cross-court passes in the first half and that was our best of the season so far,” Udoka said. “We know for our offense to take the jumps that we need, a huge piece of it is going to come in transition. Taking care of the ball is the first thing, but getting out and running based on our defense is a huge part of it.”
The Celtics aren’t a fastbreak team, but pushing the pace up can at least prevent the opponent from setting up and waiting for a normally slow Celtics team to saunter up the floor. Marcus Smart has been focused on pushing the ball up the floor, and when the Celtics are running off stops, there are buckets to be had.
“They missed some shots, but we were connected all five of us on that end,” Josh Richardson said. “When a shot got up, Rob had 17 rebounds so he would rebound, kick it to the guard and we were out running … Hopefully we continue to look forward and not backtrack. We’re feeling good about ourselves, but we’ve got a long way to go. And take it one game at a time.”
The Celtics also got huge performances from both of their stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, at the same time -- another rarity for this season.
“Everybody follows their lead, but they’re buying in at both ends of the court. Guarding extremely well, and carrying over from the last game offensively is great to see,” Udoka said. “They are the two pillars and leaders of the team, and when they come out and play with that intensity everyone seems to follow suit. … The effort they’re giving on defense, and holding the team to 30 in this day and age in the NBA is high-level defense in the first half.”
And for the second straight game, the 3-pointers were falling for Tatum. His season average has jumped from 31.1% to 33.1% thanks to his 16-28 shooting from 3 in the past two games. But more so than the shots finally falling, it’s that Tatum is still trying to get to the rim.
“It might have been a blessing in disguise when I couldn’t hit a 3,” Tatum said. “I still wanted to try to score, so just getting downhill a lot more during that stretch. And now just trying to put both of those together. … It just gives myself more options and just puts more pressure on the defense.”
Honestly, I’m at a loss. The Celtics came out strong, defended well, ran in transition without too many hiccups, made shots, and didn’t give up any runs. Tatum hit shots, Brown got plenty of opportunities, Smart shot the ball three times and Dennis Schroder just picked up the ball and started dribbling instead of it roll when Tatum slowly inbounded the ball out to him at one point.
What?
“It was good, stress free. Every team needs one every now and then, and how many close games we’ve been in this season, we can’t take these for granted,” Richardson said. “I mean it was kind of hard for us to mess that game up off the bench. The starters got us off to such a good start both halves, so it's kind of on us to just keep it going and keep the boat afloat.”
They did just that. It’s confusing as all hell, but they did it. This is either the cruelest joke of the season, or they're simply getting healthy and applying lessons learned.
I don’t want to guess which. Let’s just hope for the best.
