Analyst: ‘Boston Celtics look like post-January Cs under Joe Mazzulla’

To say that the Boston Celtics’ preseason opener went according to plan would be underselling Sunday, October 2’s destruction of the Charlotte Hornets. After a perfect offseason fell apart at the finish line in September — first with Danilo Gallinari’s ACL tear during FIBA competition abroad and then with the shocking late-September news that Ime Udoka would be suspended for the 2022-23 season — there was a multitude of questions regarding the future of Boston’s core.

Jaylen Brown just heard his name dangled in Kevin Durant trade discussions all summer. Could the Udoka news have pushed him even further from the idea of re-signing with the team during the 2024 offseason?

And how about Jayson Tatum? His reaction to a question on media day regarding what he knew about the Udoka situation certainly didn’t indicate a player completely satisfied with the off-court dealings of his franchise.

Well, the team took the court and showed that there was no drop-off from the play the team exhibited last year. For those looking to throw out the preseason caveat, save your breath. NBA Basketball was played and all of the key contributors were on the court for both squads.

And boy oh boy did Boston’s stars shine. In a combined 46 minutes of court-time, the ‘Jays’ dropped 40 points on 12/22 shooting. Brown was far more efficient, but this game was not close after the first quarter. The highlight of their performance? This picturesque Jay-to-Jay alley-oop during the first frame:

Malcolm Brogdon shined all over the floor in his Boston Celtics debut, pitching in 11 points, dishing out a team-high nine assists, and grabbing five rebounds. Al Horford similarly played within the team’s system, coming away with 8 points on 3/3 shooting overall and dishing out four assists from the center spot. Grant Williams and Sam Hauser were perfect role players, shooting 6/9 from the 3-point line.

The final score was 134-93. It’s hard to be much more excited about a team’s first public appearance than that.

The Boston Celtics under Joe Mazzulla look like the post-January Cs

Let’s not forget how difficult things were looking this past January for the Boston Celtics. 23-24 and talks of a major shakeup in Brad Stevens’ first season in charge were on the table. Things stabilized at the trade deadline, though, with the acquisition of Derrick White and the dealing away of Dennis Schroder, who put up good individual stats but ultimately didn’t contribute to a winning culture.

Boston made their NBA Finals run throughout the spring, and all seemed right with the world even with the series loss to the Golden State Warriors — but the offseason uncertainty called a lot of what we knew about this team into question.

BSS’ Dan Greenberg summed things up perfectly after watching the Cs assist on 41 of their 48 field goals on October 2, though:

It looks like everything is going to be alright, if Sunday’s preseason opener is any indication of what’s to come.