Tempers and Doubt Increased During the Celtics’ In-Season Tournament

Tempers and Doubt Increased During the Celtics’ In-Season Tournament

Tempers and Doubt Increased During the Celtics’ In-Season Tournament

Boston — When Joe Mazzulla took the podium, the Celtics still needed a Nets win to guarantee their spot in the In-Season Tournament.

Playing well and winning by a sizable margin, Brooklyn kept Toronto to within a possession for almost the whole game until Mikal Bridges and Royce O’Neale made three-pointers to give the Nets a lead that stretched to several possessions.

The Raptors missed their next seven attempts, but Brooklyn reduced the gap with Boston thanks to three more triples from O’Neale and four free throws from Cam Johnson.

When their time ran out, OG Anunoby gave a three-point slam to the door as Mazzulla wrapped up his news conference. The score was not in front of him.

“We moved forward without concern,” Mazzulla declared. Consider the functions of the process. Process over results.”

Mazzulla said at the start of the game that he felt no need to successfully cover the 23-point spread required for the Celtics to progress,

and that he might even cover more if Brooklyn lost and Orlando defeated Boston in their head-to-head match in Group C.

The Celtics seemed content to punt on the tournament and defeat a struggling Chicago club,

much like they did in their Friday loss to the Magic,

when Mazzulla withdrew starters late and the players allowed Orlando to widen their point deficit.

Rather than concentrating on their recent performance,

Boston’s assistant coach informed Mazzulla that Brooklyn had taken the lead in the fourth quarter.

The team saw the identical change on the scoreboard.

With 7:34 left, the Celtics had already accumulated a 31-point lead. Players and coaches alike said to go for it.

The Celtics defeated the Pacers 27–0, and Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown,

and Al Horford came in to complete the game and secure a trip to Las Vegas for the quarterfinals on Monday.

Mazzulla remarked, “We had no idea we would be in that position to win the game.”

“After we reached that stage, I thought it was time to act and position ourselves to move forward.

You can’t think those things before a game.

It is imperative that you be ready for them and that you know what to do when you find yourself in that predicament.

“I absorbed all of the information, processed it without feeling anything, and then I sat,

storing it in the information-storing area of my brain, and waited to see if I would need it or not.

We may be down 15 points when we walk into a game,

which is distracting since we’re trying to lead by 23,

and you’ll wonder whether their squad was sidetracked by the 23-point advantage. .. Our squad’s goal was to win.

As they had not done during their four-game schedule,

Boston did not talk about in-season scenarios,

though Derrick White noted that players were generally aware of what needed to happen on Tuesday.

Billy Donovan, the head coach of the Bulls, saw it too, having already observed a confrontation between the Raptors and the Bulls regarding Toronto’s management of the fourth quarter in an attempt to gain a point differential.

Five teams in the east finished with a 3-1 record,

including the Celtics, Nets, and Magic in the same group.

This created challenging, dynamic point differential tiebreakers for Boston to handle.

Donovan was aware that the Celtics might attempt to increase the score.

Mazzulla purposefully fouling Andre Drummond, who had a 64.3% success percentage at the free-throw line coming into the game,

caught him off guard. After a Holiday three-pointer, Horford made five consecutive free throws while Drummond missed four,

giving Horford a 116-81 lead. Just a short while ago,

Toronto and Brooklyn were knotted at 80 points,

and the Celtics were only six points behind the Knicks in the wild card chase.

Chicago was kept within thirty against the Boston bench by Coby White.

Mazzulla turned to face his bench at that point and made a decision.

“That excites me,” Mazzulla remarked, “because once it got to that point and you started playing the math game, your possessions are 0.0 points per possession because they missed two free throws.”

“There is a procedure, but it’s not that I don’t think the In Season Tournament is significant or enjoyable.

Returning to the Orlando game, will we be able to bounce back simply because it’s a (IST) game? I want our guys to think differently than that.

We need to recover from every game. We must maintain our routines and mindset because they are the reason for it.

When the procedure reaches, say, thirty, what would you like to do? I’m hoping for stops.

and I expressed regret to Andre Drummond for doing so, but given the situation,

it offered us the best opportunity.

Donovan took issue with Drummond’s position, which Mazzulla had placed him in.

Drummond graciously declined to comment on the circumstances in Chicago’s locker room.

Drummond stated he would discuss basketball,

obviously not thinking of what transpired in that situation as a component of an NBA game.

When Boston started fouling, Donovan came over to Mazzulla on the sidelines.

Mazzulla stated that the Celtics wanted to hold onto their lead because Brooklyn was still ahead.

After the game, they spoke once more in the corridor, and it seemed tense.

Mazzulla then asked Bulls executives to speak with Drummond. Subsequently,

Brown and Holiday admitted they didn’t like scoring points against Chicago.

They stated it’s not about how you play. That added to its already intriguing nature.

One reporter likened it to seeing a team attempt to cover a point spread with everyone in the arena.

It made the atmosphere, attire, and games distinct from those of other regular season games outside of the court. Who gives a damn? Last week, several readers pleaded for it to end.

How were the Celtics admitted? They begged to start this one first.

Horford reminisced about how it brought back memories of his FIBA competitions with the Dominican Republic, and the players were even more intrigued.

In a game that ordinarily would have sent them packing for an early Tuesday night nap,

fans stayed in the stands to witness the Celtics play with first-half energy.

Post-game analysis would have mostly consisted of discussing Holiday’s impressive comeback from an ankle sprain and Horford’s subsequent spot start.

Mazzulla made an effort to maintain the emphasis on Boston’s defensive play,

rebounding, and meticulous preparation before the game.

They succeeded in both, performing with ease and obviously aiming for the tournament berth.

The Nets led their fourth quarter by a point,

but Sam Hauser raced full speed towards Tatum’s mistake and knocked down a put-back dunk that sent the Garden into a frenzy, putting Boston ahead by 29.

The Knicks’ lead mounted to 20, sinking the Celtics’ wild card hopes.

Soon after, the Heat’s scoring differential determined the seeding; a seven-point loss sent Milwaukee ahead of Indiana.

As the Celtics attempted to fulfil their obligation, other games and scores cluttered phones and computers like the final day of the regular season.

Chicago chipped away at the 33-point lead created by another Horford three, scoring seven points in a row.

In response, Brown dove to the court to snag Tatum’s failed three-pointer with 2:27 left in the 121-95 contest.

The bench moved in.

“We tried our hardest to construct it… I’ve seen enough, Mazzulla declared. “We don’t need injuries to occur to people.”

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