As the Celtics put the finishing touches on a 124-107 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday night, the wave was rolling through the TD Garden crowd.
Unfortunately, the cringy tradition of fans rising from their seats in metachronal unison, emitting a half-hearted “woo,” and raising their arms in a frantic display is becoming a part of the TD Garden experience.
Perhaps it’s understandable.
Fans need ways to entertain themselves, with the Celtics consistently dominating every team that graces the parquet. Sunday night’s victory pushed their home record to an astonishing 35-3 this season, with an average point differential of 15.5. Twenty-one of those wins have been by double digits, and they collectively outscored opponents by 590 points.
Although the lowly Trail Blazers kept things interesting, they were no match for the Celtics, as Boston led for all but just 1:30.
In the absence of Jayson Tatum, who got the day off, six Celtics scored double figures, with Jaylen Brown leading the way with 26 points. Derrick White contributed another 15 points and dished out a team-high nine assists, while Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis scored 12 points a piece.
With the win, the Celtics earned their 13th consecutive home victory and advanced to 62-16 on the season. Boston has finished the regular season with over 62 wins only five times in franchise history.
“Anytime you can win at a high level, you don’t take that for granted,” Brown said postgame. “This is the most regular-season wins I’ve ever had in my career. So that’s awesome, man. It’s just been great from top to bottom. I’m looking forward to carrying it over to the playoffs. But you still don’t want to skip over it. You know how much work it takes to win 62 games and counting in a season.”
Here are five takeaways as the Celtics extend their win streak to five games and boost their home-winning percentage to a staggering 91.9%, ranking fourth in franchise history and the highest since the 1986-87 season.
Hints of a potential playoff wrinkle?
With 37.1 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Joe Mazzulla subbed Jaden Springer into the game for Luke Kornet.
Immediately upon checking in, after Kristaps Porzingis missed a free throw, Springer pressed Dalano Banton in the backcourt. With Springer attached to his hip, Banton coughed up the ball, which rolled in front of the Portland bench, and Springer dove on it.
Despite Jabari Walker managing to recover the loose ball, Springer’s disruptive play effectively dismantled Portland’s offensive possession. The ensuing pass from Walker found Kris Murray, who failed to connect on his shot, sending it errantly off the backboard.
Although the Trail Blazers retained possession after an offensive rebound by Jabari Walker, Springer’s defensive intensity resulted in a net positive for the Celtics during his brief 37-second stint on the court.
Jaylen Brown punctuated the Celtics’ quarter by sinking a three-pointer, and as the buzzer sounded, Joe Mazzulla sought out Springer and offered him acknowledgment.
“Just giving him an opportunity. We were double big, but we went for the two-for-one and could have closed it out. We closed it out six nothing, and those four seconds are super important,” Mazzulla said postgame. “Any chance you can get to put a guy in to let him know how important every single possession is, that’s kind of what I was explaining to him. We closed out that two-for-one situation 6-0, and I thought that kind of helped us.”
This wasn’t the first time Mazzulla has turned to Springer to close a quarter.
At the end of the third quarter last month in Chicago, Payton Pritchard was at the line shooting two free throws. Between the attempts, Mazzulla subbed Springer into the game, replacing Xavier Tillman with just 4.0 seconds remaining in the frame.
The purpose was to prevent any shot attempt at the quarter’s end, and Springer executed flawlessly. Following Pritchard’s made free throw, Springer picked up DeMar DeRozan, remaining glued to him throughout, forcing DeRozan to dribble out the clock before crossing midcourt.
Mazzulla’s approach is extremely detail-oriented, exploiting the game’s subtle nuances and finer details. While there are less obvious cases, this is another example.
Springer’s ability to defend 94 feet with incredible tenacity makes him special in those two-for-one, end-of-quarter situations. Don’t be surprised if Mazzulla uses him in these situations come the playoffs.
Destroyed on the glass
Speaking of those finer details, one aspect of that is the margins of the game, an area in which the Celtics weren’t great on Sunday night.
Portland attempted 15 more shots than the Celtics, courtesy of Boston’s struggles on the glass.
Boston was outrebounded 53-40, with 22 of Portland’s boards coming on the offensive glass. Those 22 offensive rebounds led to 21 second-chance points.
“Just gotta box out,” Mazzulla said bluntly when asked about the rebounding struggles postgame.
Portland’s 22 offensive rebounds were the most the Celtics have surrendered since March 3, 2020. In the Mazzulla era, they had never allowed more than 20.
Offensive rebounds kept Portland in the game. For an inferior team to hang around with the Celtics, they need to find extra possessions, and Portland did just that by controlling the offensive glass.
This has been an issue for the Celtics in recent weeks. On Friday night, the Kings snagged 15 offensive boards, resulting in 20 points. The Celtics have been outscored 41-15 in second-chance points in their last two games.
While it hasn’t necessarily killed them, teams will make you pay if that happens in the postseason.
Jaylen Brown makes history
At the 11:29 mark in the third quarter, a Jaylen Brown layup pushed him to 10,000 career points. It’s quite fitting that he achieved this milestone with his lefty finish.
The 27-year-old became just the 15th Celtic to reach 10,000 career points. Among the 15 Celtics to reach the milestone, his 48.0% field goal percentage ranks fourth behind three Hall of Famers: Kevin McHale (55.4), Robert Parish (55.2), and Larry Bird (49.6).
“A lot,” Mazzulla said when asked how much it means to see a guy like Brown reach such a milestone. “Just because of the type of guy that he is, the hard work that he puts in, and really, the growth that he’s shown this year, working to become a complete player on both ends of the floor. So, I know he’s happy about that. But I know that even when he achieves those things, he’s never satisfied. But it’s cool to be able to coach guys that get those types of milestones and to be a part of that. He deserves that because of the hard work that he puts in.”
During the first timeout after reaching the milestone, Brown was recognized on the video board and received a standing ovation.
“It was great, especially all of the supporters who have been supporting me from day one,” Brown said after the game. “Obviously, things have been up and down throughout the early stages of my career. I’ve been able to get different opportunities, improve, and gain more responsibility.”
“For the day ones, the JB fans who have stayed in my corner since day one, I feel that love, and I like to just show that love right back. There are a lot of people here in Boston who have supported my career and my journey, and I’m grateful for that. That encourages me to just keep getting better. That encourages me to keep improving, proving the naysayers or the critics wrong, and just keep leveling up.”
It was a cool moment between Brown and the fanbase, as Brown has been one of the most scrutinized players in Boston sports, starting the day he was drafted when fans booed after Wyc Grousbeck announced the team would be selecting Brown to fans assembled at TD Garden for a draft event.
Three All-Star selections, five trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, All-NBA honors, and a trip to the Finals later, the perception around the former number three overall pick has changed drastically. Brown is undoubtedly one of the best two-way players in the game.
“It definitely does [mean a lot],” Brown said on the milestone. “I don’t want to skip over that. It’s been a great journey. Even though the journey is still going, you just take the moments to appreciate all of the hard work and effort that has gone into getting to this point. It’s been ups, it’s been downs. Things haven’t gone my way; things have, and here we are. So I’m incredibly grateful, and I’m looking forward to the future.”
“All I can say is I’m incredibly grateful to be in this position. It’s been a lot of hard work and effort. But I’m extremely blessed at the same time. So I don’t take that for granted. And I’m looking forward to just continue to grow, continue to improve, and maximize my potential.”
Surpassing 10,000 career points at 27 sets a strong foundation for his pursuit of the 20,000-point mark, a milestone achieved by only a select few in NBA history.
Brown is a special player, and he’s only getting better.
Some old friends return
On Sunday evening, the TD Garden welcomed back a trio of former Celtics: Dalano Banton, Malcolm Brogdon, and Robert Williams.
Banton, who has been playing exceptionally well in Portland – averaging 28 minutes a game with 16 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists – was the only former Celtic to play in the game. The 24-year-old, who appeared in 24 games with Boston this season, continued his solid play, scoring a game-high 28 points and dishing out nine assists.
“Every team you are on generates different opportunities. Here, it was kind of spot minutes and filling a small role, and he did great at that, and he goes to a different place, and that kind of empowerment opened up opportunities for him,” Mazzulla said on Banton postgame.
“That obviously gives you a little bit more confidence, a little bit more freedom when you know that the playing time is more, and so it’s good for him, but you know, we’ve always obviously why we signed him, in the beginning, was because we always liked the player that he could be, so it’s good to see him kind of develop into that.”
During a timeout in the first quarter, the Celtics took a moment to welcome back the three former Celtics, displaying them on the video board.
Williams, who emerged as a fan favorite over five seasons in Boston, received the loudest ovation of the three. To some, it probably came as a surprise that Williams didn’t get a tribute video for his time of service with the Celtics. However, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Globe, Williams requested the Celtics not to have a video.
After the game, they each took some time to reconnect with their former teammates.
Letting the bench close again
Joe Mazzulla leaned on his reserves to close out Friday’s win against the Kings. The group coughed up an 18-point lead before narrowly escaping with a 1-point victory. He gave them that opportunity again on Sunday night — only the circumstances were a little different this time.
On Friday night, the Kings were fighting for their lives. Having already clinched a playoff spot, they are doing everything possible to avoid the Western Conference Play-In Tournament. The Trail Blazers, on the other hand, are locked in for a lottery pick.
Mazzulla let his reserves figure things out on their own against the Kings’ starters as they stormed back. After the game, Mazzulla noted the importance of the lessons they could learn from the situation — a decision that appears to have paid immediate dividends.
None of the starters played in the fourth quarter, with Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Xavier Tillman, and Svi Mykhailiuk each playing the entire frame. Oshae Brissett played 8:53, while Luke Kornet played 3:07.
Over that stretch, the Celtics made light work of the Trail Blazers, outscoring them 31-22. Portland’s 22 points were its fewest in any frame.
Pritchard was the catalyst for the offense, scoring or assisting on 11 of Boston’s 14 (78.5%) makes. He scored 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and dished out six assists.
“They’ve done it all year,” Mazzulla said postgame. “Everybody on that team has either started a game, finished the game at some point, or has been in significant minutes. So, at this point, it’s just continuing to work on those things. And I think they all know that that’s the standard because they work at it. So, it’s [easy] to forget some stuff because it’s such a long year, but there were moments throughout the year where those guys were, starting games – four or five in a row and back to backs and so just continuing to coach them up is the most important thing.”
Because of the bench’s ability to impact the game (along with the Celtics clinching the league’s top record), no starter played more than 32 minutes. White played 31, Brown played 30, Porzingis 27, and Holiday and Horford played 21.
“It just shows that we’re well coached, we’re well organized, and we got a lot of talent, but we all flow with a continuity about ourselves,” Brown said on the bench, being able to close the game. “I think thats a testament to how much our guys work, but also our coaching staff, making sure we organized, making sure we’re playing to our strengths, and making sure we’re getting good shots every time down.”
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