Winning ugly is a beautiful thing for the Celtics, even agaisnt the Raptors
By Jack Simone
BOSTON — The 2-11 Toronto Raptors took the Boston Celtics to overtime on Saturday night. The 2-11 Raptors haven’t won a game on the road this season, yet they walked into TD Garden and nearly took down the reigning champs. The 2-11 Raptors, led by Jakob Poeltl’s career night, nearly sent Celtics Nation into the inevitable post-loss hellscape that occurs every time the guys in green drop a game.
But Jayson Tatum’s game-winning three in OT was the final meteor in the extinction of the dinosaurs.
"That was a big-time shot,” Jaylen Brown said via Brian Robb of MassLive. “We needed it bad. The last thing we wanted to do is go into double overtime against the Toronto Raptors."
Saturday night marked the second time in five games the Celtics went to overtime, and that’s not including their one-possession loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Celtics are winning ugly in the best way possible
Outside of their blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets, each of the Celtics last six games could have gone a different way had a single possession been different. Joe Mazzulla said it’s a privilege to be expected to win, but during stretches like this, it can be a curse, too.
Well, from the outside looking in. Internally, the Celtics are just fine.
As the entirety of Boston held its breath to see if they’d be relieved or angry (but certainly not elated), Mazzulla and the Celtics were soaking up valuable experience.
“I enjoy leading wins,” Mazzulla said. “I enjoy leading games if you win, but also a taste in your mouth that you have to get better. So, that's kind of where you're at. And usually, when you play close games, it's because you missed a couple of details on the margins. But I like that we're executing in those.
“And so, at the end of the day, we just have to execute on both ends of the floor and gain as much experience in that as we can.”
As Poeltl pounded away in the paint, Boston knew what they were getting into. Fans at TD Garden may not have enjoyed watching a 53-minute slugfest highlighted by an Austrian behemoth’s push shots, but the Celtics played the math.
Taking away Poeltl’s flip shots inside the arc would have meant caving in another area of their game plan, and that wasn’t on their agenda.
“Well, it's a unique situation, right?” Mazzulla explained. “Because if you're in a certain coverage, you're going to give that shot up. If you're in a different coverage, you're more susceptible to offensive rebounds. So, they're a tricky matchup because of those things, and when it's a one or two-possession game, that shot is probably the highest-valued shot that you can get on the court on both teams because he's so good at it.
“So, it comes down to some of the other stuff. And so we just had to go back and forth. You saw, we went with Sam and Luke, played one coverage, got it to a certain point, and then went back to Neemi and Al and played a different coverage. So, you're just constantly [assessing] a cost-benefit analysis to each possession and try to make it work.”
Whether it’s Poeltl’s automatic floater from inside the paint or Larry Nance Jr. pouring in a career-high number of threes from behind the arc, Boston’s recent stretch of close games is more positive than negative.
Just because the faces of the 2024 championship roster are still out there competing doesn’t mean it’s the same team. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I think it obviously keeps us on our toes,” Horford said of the Celtics’ recent stretch of close games. “And more than anything, I think you guys have heard me say this before, but every year is different. And even though we had, success last year, this year, we have to figure out again how to get things done [and] how to win.”
Just like not every night will look the same, not every season will look the same. Assuming as such would do nothing but back the Celtics into a corner that could be difficult to fight out of.
Instead, they go into each game with a set plan, and they stick to it. If that means watching Poeltl drop a career-high 35 points, so be it. They’ll adjust if need be, but for the most part, they follow their own formula.
That process has lifted them to an 11-3 record on the year, and a lot of their wins have been grind-it-out victories. Even if those contests aren’t against the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder or Denver Nuggets, there’s still value.
And no matter the opponent, winning ugly is a win—both literally and mentally.
“Sometimes the game is ugly, and it's not going how you want it,” Tatum said after the win over Toronto. “Game's a little messed up, you're not hitting shots, certain guys are out, and how do you still figure out a way to win? So it's, for sure, rewarding, walking out of a game like this, and knowing we figured it out.”
With a team as talented as the Celtics, results may vary. Last year, they started the year 11-3. Same as this season. Last year, fans let their emotions hinge on the result of every individual game. Same as this season. Last year, the Celtics took things day by day, constantly living in the present. Same as this season.
So, for every three-point victory decided by a Tatum game-winner, there will be a 30-point win (and perhaps a disappointing loss).
That said, Tatum wouldn’t mind enjoying a few blowouts in the near future.
“50/50,” Tatum said when asked if he likes playing in close games or blowouts more. “Hopefully we get some of those [blowout] games coming up.”
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