Entering Tuesday night’s matchup with the Bulls, the Celtics faced an uphill battle in order to advance to the Knockout stage of the NBA’s Inaugural In-Season Tournament.
Boston needed a 23-point win over Chicago and a little help from the Brooklyn Nets to clinch their group by way of the point differential tiebreaker.
Against the improbable odds, the Celtics got what they needed. Behind a 27-point victory over the Chicago Bulls, and a 115-103 Nets victory over the Raptors – Boston punched its ticket to the knockout stage in what was a bizarre but fun night at TD Garden.
Joe Mazzulla and his Celtics knew what needed to happen in order for them to advance. When asked pregame if he felt any obligation to win by the 23-point differential, Mazzulla was straightforward.
“Zero,” the head coach replied.
Boston hit the ground running, outscoring the Bulls 69-50 in the first half. The Celtics finished the first half shooting 26-of-40 (65%) from the field and 13-of-24 (54.2%) from three. Twenty-one of Boston’s 26 makes were assisted.
The Celtics did not let up in the third quarter, something that's been an issue for them, and their lead ballooned up to 32 points.
Suddenly, the possibility of advancing to the quarterfinals was in reach. With the coaching staff keeping an eye on the Nets-Raptors game, Mazzulla’s approach shifted.
Up by 28 with 7:34 to go in the fourth quarter, Boston’s starters checked back in, in an effort to build the lead.
“We didn’t know we were going to be in that position to start the game,” Mazzulla said. “So when we got to that point, I felt like it was time to execute and put ourselves in position to advance into the tournament. Going into a game you can’t think those things. You do have to be prepared for them. So once you’re in that situation, you have to be ready to go to it, so I thought our process the last eight minutes of the fourth quarter did the best we could at putting us in position to advance.”
Upon re-inserting the starters back into the game with a 29-point lead, the Celtics began intentionally fouling Bulls’ big man Andre Drummond, a career 47.7% free throw shooter.
The Celtics fouled Drummond on back-to-back possessions. Drummond missed all four of his free throw attempts, and the lead was quickly up to 34.
Upset with the decision to foul Drummond, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan walked over to midcourt to talk to Mazzulla, and Mazzulla explained his reasoning. Mazzulla mentioned postgame he apologized to both Drummond and Donovan.
“I apologized to Andre Drummond for doing that,” Mazzulla said. “But it gave us the best chance considering the circumstances we were in.”
Piling onto a fourth quarter lead is different. It’s something you don’t see in the NBA out of respect for the opponent and the game. Though there was no bad blood, and both teams understood the reasoning, it felt weird to see unfold in an NBA game.
“To be honest it was a little weird,” Jaylen Brown said. “It’s tough because that’s just not how the game is supposed to be played. One, you gotta respect your opponents and two, it’s just a weird setup. We understand the rules, but if I was on the other team, I would be upset as well when we were doing the Hack-a-Drummond in the middle of the fourth quarter, but our coaching staff made the decision, and we stick with it.”
Jrue Holiday offered a similar sentiment.
“There’s a line between increasing excitement, revenue, whatever, and compromising ethics of the game. It’s a balance,” Brown added.
The Celtics will now take on the Indiana Pacers on the road Monday in the quarterfinals, a single-game elimination, with the winner punching a ticket to Las Vegas to take on the winner of the New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks in the semifinals.
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