It’s funny what happens to a team when they actually like playing together.
The Celtics were never supposed to be in this game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Without Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Robert Williams, the expectation was that the reigning champs would wear the Celtics down over the course of the game and eventually get to take a big chunk of the fourth quarter off.
The Celtics, though, had other ideas. They held a lead with a little more than two minutes to play in the game, and were a couple of makeable shots from maybe stealing the win.
“What I told the guys was great effort overall, great experience for a lot of guys we’ll depend on going forward,” Ime Udoka said after the game. “We played extremely hard with a few guys out, but a few plays stand out - all the turnovers … the offensive rebounds late when we had a three or four-point lead. Those are teaching points, great effort by a lot of guys in different positions.”
Yeah, it’s tough when Luke Kornet or Sam Hauser have to switch onto Giannis Antetokounmpo, requiring more help than usual and opening up opportunities for the Bucks. But even when Milwaukee started to flex their muscles a bit, this group never gave in.
“You’ve got guys stepping up that I’m sure a lot of people one, probably didn’t know; two, never heard of; three wasn’t expecting,” Marcus Smart said. “So that right there alone just speaks for itself. We played a good team tonight – a really good team – and we didn’t have everybody, and we still gave them a run for their money and almost won it. So that right there speaks to the resilience that this team has individually and together.”
This is a classic definition of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Throw the lineups Udoka played into some simulator that relies solely on stats to spit out results and you’re probably looking at a whole lot of blowouts. But this group played for each other, and the collective whole was pretty strong.
“It’s a brotherhood,” Smart said on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Talk Podcast. “We spend so much time together that it’s kind of hard for you not to build that chemistry. You have to have it.”
Boston’s blowout-filled 2022 has contributed to that chemistry. Not only has it been giving some of these guys chances to get live run at the end of games, it’s a chance for the starters to show their support for the guys who have been putting in the same amount of work at practices.
“We just want to make sure as a collective unit that we support each other through the bad and the good. We’re gonna win together, we're gonna lose together,” Smart said. “When those guys come in, and the starters are sitting and if you're just sitting there looking like you're not even invested, those guys are gonna feel the exact same way, and their confidence is going to continue to go down.
"When we come out the game and they look over at the bench and we're talking to him, and they hear us cheering, encouraging them, they feel good about themselves. And that's only going to help us as a team down the road.”
That confidence building translates in situations like this. It was a loss, but when the expectation was an even bigger loss, the possibility of stealing this win made for a fun game.
But this could end up being worth more than that. Guys played a tough Bucks team and showed out on national television. There are impressions made in these settings that could turn into difference-making moments down the line.
The playoffs can get weird. Matchups can thrust someone unexpected into the spotlight, especially in a desperate situation. There's no telling what memory a 2-0 deficit might conjure. There's always a chance some assistant might say “hey, remember that last game in April when we ran that play and Hauser got a 3?”
It’s all intertwined. The opportunities present themselves, guys work to take advantage of them, and the team playing as a single unit, regardless of who is on the floor, gives everyone the best chance to blossom.
“It has a ton of value for them. Tight, tough situations,” Udoka said. “Experience going forth to the playoffs is what we’re looking for, where we have to execute. … When we have a full complement of players we’re going to score a little better, defend a little better regardless of who we’re playing, that’s what I’m looking for - that effort. That experience going forth in the playoffs.”
The Celtics haven't always played as a team this season, but they got there. A game like this, similar to the game in Toronto, provides more evidence that this team won’t go down without a fight. They have the talent to get far, but that unity, chemistry, and fight can be one hell of a tiebreaker.
