This is why I’ve been saying the Celtics are fine.
The Celtics walked into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the current top seed, and played with playoff intensity for an entire game, walking out with an impressive win.
They were not perfect, but that made this win a good one. They didn’t shoot great, but they didn’t let it affect their defense. They fell into some ruts, but they pulled out of them. The Cavs made runs, but Boston never let them get out of control.
Two good teams battled. The better team won.
“I thought we did a good job just taking away some of the margins, some of the easy baskets that they're able to create because of the type of players that they have,” Joe Mazzulla told reporters after the game. “We were able to take those away for some of the game. And I thought our guys defended well.”
Defending well hasn’t been a hallmark of this Celtics season, which is funny because they still have the fifth-best defense in the league. The story of this season so far is less about what they’ve done, it’s about what they're capable of doing and living up to that standard.
They were capable of beating the Atlanta Hawks, but Jrue Holiday’s brain short-circuited for a minute. They were capable of beating the Houston Rockets, but Dillon Brooks had an out-of-body experience. If those games finished normally, Boston would be on a six-game winning streak instead of four, and winners of 10 in their last 11. Instead of being 4.5 games behind Cleveland, they’d be 2.5 games back with one more matchup in hand.
With all of that comes the requisite consternation, which is understandable. All of that was annoying to write, much less experience over the past few weeks. But none of it ever meant Boston wasn’t fine. We can argue whether they had the sniffles or bronchitis, but their condition was never terminal.
“I think we know we're capable of this,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “I think we know that on any night we can beat anybody. … Of course, for us, it's easier to show up to these kind of games and play hard and all this, but we're working on having that intensity every night, and sometimes just running through teams and not letting them hang around.”
Porzingis has been the most honest about the team’s up-and-down journey through the middle of the season. They were 21-6 through the first third of the schedule, a healthy 78% clip, and right on pace to duplicate their 64-win season. They’ve slipped to 15-9 since, and that number is only that good because of their current four-game winning streak. They have four more games to complete their second third of the season, and the best they can do is finish it at a 56-win pace.
And that's if they can find the motivation to keep this roll going into the All-Star break.
They looked more like the champs on this Tuesday night in Cleveland than they have in a while. Even with some easy wins mixed into their slump, this game against the Cavs was the most playoff-like atmosphere.
That kind of atmosphere isn't just a bunch of cameras, media, and a raucous crowd. It’s about in-game adjustments and different players finding ways to contribute. It’s about keeping focus, reading the game, and giving it what it needs. Nothing was easy. They had to figure things out on the fly, react to different players getting going in different ways, and adjust to changes in how the game was officiated.
“Honestly, it's just a bigger game,” Porzingis said. “We believe that we have the tools necessary to win these kinds of games.
“It's just, it's a battle to try to bring it every night, against maybe some lower level teams, on some random night. It’s a long season, so it’s just normal. We're not at this, maybe, intensity every night, but bigger games, we showed up, and I think we looked pretty good today.”
That they did. It was a nice reminder that buried under all that mess of games 28 through 55 is a bit of what we saw in games 1 through 27. It was good to see the kind of basketball they're going to need to play in games 83 through 100 (give or take a couple).
This was a playoff-level effort and a high-quality win. This is who they are. This is why I’ve always thought they were fine, even when they’ve been frustrating.
Now, it would be nice to start seeing some more of it.
“I'm very happy that we have four wins in a row now, because it's a tough, tough stretch right before the All-Star break,” Porzingis said. “But it's important for us to finish strong, go into the All-Star break, get some rest, and then have that really good home stretch of the regular season to peak at the right moment.
“I like where we’re headed, we just need to finish strong.”
