In two of their three games leading up to Tuesday, the Boston Celtics fell short. Emphatically so. Tyrese Maxey and Tyrese Haliburton enjoyed an Boeing 757-sized runway to the paint, and Boston failed to stop them time and time again.
So, when the Toronto Raptors entered TD Garden, a bounce-back game was in order. And that’s exactly what the Celtics delivered.
They trounced the Raptors, scoring more points in the second half than the dinosaurs did all game. The 125-71 beatdown incorporated a classic case of red-hot Celtics three-point shooting. The exact type of showing that Boston has become known for. The one that so many around the NBA landscape have begun to hate.
But it was so much more than that.
The Celtics beat the Raptors by 54 points because they stuck to their offensive principles
A quick glance at the box score reveals the aforementioned three-point barrage. To be exact, the Celtics shot 22-of-43 from long range. That’s 51.2%.
However, they started the game 0-of-7 from beyond the arc, and their first five shots of the game were from deep. Neither team could put the ball in the basket, and it looked like TD Garden was in store for another ugly game.
Yet in the face of what could have been a brutal afternoon, the Celtics did absolutely nothing.
“It's situations like today, for example, where 3-2 after the first media timeout, and I thought every shot we took was a good shot,” Joe Mazzulla said post-game. “I thought every shot we made them take, except for the missed layup, was a great shot . And so, can you have an understanding of, 'That's the process that we're talking about'?”
Had the Celtics chosen to live by the results of their actions, perhaps they would have changed their game plan. Maybe they would have looked to drive most close-outs or hesitate to launch threes. But they didn’t. Instead, they changed nothing and finished the game by making 22 of their last 36 threes (61.1%).
Ever since he took over as head coach, Mazzulla has preached the idea of process over results. “You got to live by principle, not by feeling,” he said earlier this year.
Boston knows how to win basketball games. It’s a matter of math and execution, and just because a few shots don’t fall doesn’t mean either of those entities is in the wrong.
“I think just being consistent,” Derrick White said of this outlook. “Trusting the work that you put in, and he just always has the most confidence in us. And so, when we're making the right reads and we're getting good looks, that's something that, over a long period of time, is gonna be beneficial for us.
“So, just know that there are gonna be ups and downs in the game, but if you have the right reads, the right process, in the long run, it will work out for us.”
It all sounds so simple. And in practice, it is. Just utilize the same style of play regardless of if the shots go in. Because the math of Celtics basketball says that they’ll go in eventually.
But the system requires fighting the innate instincts that come with the sport. One missed shot may not mean much, but seven? In any normal instance, that could lead to overthinking. ‘Should we adapt?’ ‘Is it time to try something different?’ ‘What if this doesn’t work?’
It’s an internal dialogue that the Celtics have grown immune to.
“I think it's definitely something that I've learned over time,” said White. “Just having a lot of confidence in that next shot. You can't get that last shot back, and there's no point really dwelling on it. And so, just focusing on that next shot, continuing to put a good shot up there. And then, everybody says, 'It takes one to get hot.' So, just kind of have that mindset.”
Against the Raptors, the Celtics had that mindset. They kept pouring coal into their offensive furnace, and after a couple of flame-outs, the fire began to rage. The result was their biggest win of the season and the second-largest margin of victory in franchise history.
It was a signature win. Something the Celtics should have welcomed with open arms after some tough losses in the past week.
While perhaps they were pleased inwardly, on the outside, their reaction was the same as it was after they lost an ugly game to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. Or on Christmas Day to the Philadelphia 76ers. Or on the previous Monday to a short-handed Orlando Magic squad.
They accept the result and push forward.
“I think the best thing about the team is just their mindset to have an understanding of where we're at, where we're trying to get better, whether you win or lose,” Mazzulla said.
“I don't think there's much difference in the locker room after a game like today as the other night. There are still 15 possessions we have to get better at. Still, stuff that we got to work on. And they understand that. So, that's a good thing.”
Boston’s win over Toronto was an encyclopedia for everything they stand for on the offensive end. Through the ugliness of seven missed threes in a row, they remained steadfast.
And though finally seeing the shots go down may have provided some fleeting moments of joy on the court, not even that was enough to satiate the mind of Mazzulla.
At least, not yet.
“Yeah, I mean, it depends on what reward you're looking for,” Mazzulla said when asked if it was rewarding to see the threes finally fall. “To me, the reward comes at the end of the season. So, it just depends on what reward you're looking for.”