Boston Celtics
“When we played them a month ago, I was just blown away by how good they were.”
Steve Kerr AP Photo/Charles Krupa
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As the Celtics play out the final stretch of the regular-season, they’ve found themselves in a position that few outside of the organization expected them to be in.
They established themselves as one of the top teams in the East without Jayson Tatum. Now, with Tatum back in the fold, they seem poised to kick things up another notch.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr knows a contender when he sees it. He has nine NBA Championships, five as a player and four as a coach. The Celtics swept the regular-season series against the Warriors with a 120-99 victory at TD Garden Wednesday night.
While the Celtics are second in the Eastern Conference, Kerr didn’t have an issue using the word “favorites” when describing where they stand now.
“Every team has a different set of circumstances,” Kerr said. “The Celtics sure aren’t used to being an afterthought and they kind of were before the season with Jayson’s injury and the departures of Kristaps [Porzingis] and Al [Horford]. When we played them a month ago, I was just blown away by how good they were.”
Boston turned what was supposed to be a disadvantage into an opportunity for development. Tatum’s absence opened up minutes for the team’s younger wings and the experience helped them grow as the season went on. They were able to play without the weight of championship expectations, and now that Tatum is back, the Celtics are deeper than they initially seemed to be.
“I think that time without the expectations really gave them a chance to play their younger guys, to kind of lay in the weeds a little bit,” Kerr said. “Nobody was really talking about them and that’s kind of a nice position to be in when you’re used to being the favorite year after year.”
“So, it feels like they really took advantage of it, really developed their young guys and hammered home expectations for those guys and roles … I’m just really, really impressed by the job Joe and Brad have done putting this team together.”
“The spacing, the execution, just got good shots over and over again,” Kerr said. “They played so well together and that was even without Jayson. So, I just think the continuity of what they’ve built has carried over so that even with all the departures they still know exactly who they are and now they get Jayson back, of course.”
The process has been fun, said Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, and it has led to uncommon results.
“Basketball is a team sport so the strength of the team is what you lead with,” Brown said. “I think from the beginning of the season, that’s what I’ve emphasized.”
“Fast forward to where we’re at now and I feel like we’ve improved at a very fast rate and that does not happen in the NBA, having a bunch of guys where you can just plug and play and expect things to work out even though the expectations are high here in Boston. That simply doesn’t happen in other places.”
A few constant themes during Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla’s press conferences are winning the margins, finding and exploiting two-on-one matchups, and keeping proper spacing on offense.
The Celtics execute those things better than just about anyone else in the league, Kerr said.
“They put a lot of stress on you,” Kerr said. “To me, they’re the best spacing team in the league. With all those great isolation players, Pritchard included in that, when they start to drive you really feel it when you play against them live. Those guys on the wing, it feels like they’re at half-court.”
“They’ve got multiple guys who can shoot from out there and so many guys that can put the ball on the floor obviously with Jaylen and Jayson but also Derrick White and Pritchard. So, you’re really spaced out. Are you willing to give up shots to certain players? You really have to know personnel.”
The Celtics are No. 2 in the league in offensive efficiency. Keeping spacing in mind has been a priority for the Celtics and it shows in the advanced stats.
“The most important thing is just staying spaced, reading the spacing. It can come in different ways,” Mazzulla said. “I think the thing we’ve gotten better at is reading the different coverages, something that Golden State does very well, changing defenses, changing coverages … It’s something that our guys work hard at, have gotten better at and when you’re properly spaced you can usually see the reads a little bit better.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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