Sometimes in the NBA, you have to win ugly. Tuesday’s Boston Celtics win over the Phoenix Suns was a prime example. Neither team reached triple-digits, a rarity in today’s game, and the outcome was truly decided on the margins -- just the way the Celtics like it.
Their 97-81 victory was actually the quintessential Celtics win.
It did not look like it was going to turn out that way throughout the first quarter and a half at Mortgage Matchup Center. Boston found themselves down by 11 points 18 minutes in. They were shooting an abysmal 33% from the field and 23% from deep, while the Suns put up 52/53% splits.
How did they flip the game on its head?
Well, they didn’t really do anything differently, at least not on a large scale. Offensively, they leaned more heavily into the Spain pick-and-roll, and honed in on the defensive glass.
It also helped that Phoenix was without several players, including Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks on Tuesday.
The Celtics' gameplan prepares them for off nights like this
What makes this Celtics team special, is that they work hard to set themselves up for success, regardless if shooting luck is on their side.
“At one point it was we had eight offensive rebounds and they had four and we were getting great shots,” Mazzulla explained postgame. “We just weren't making them.
Even when they couldn’t throw a rock in the ocean, Boston created extra opportunities for themselves with offensive rebounds and by taking care of the ball.
Ron Harper Jr. had a huge presence on the offensive glass. He fought for four extra possessions in the first quarter alone.
He and his teammates remained focussed on the margins that Joe Mazzulla emphasizes any time he’s given the chance.
By doing so, they had taken eight more shots than the Suns and six more threes despite facing a double-digit deficit.
“We have to just fight for perspective,” Mazzulla continued. “We were doing some good stuff. We needed to do a better job on a defensive glass. We ended up getting more shots than they did, and then the shots finally came. But credit to the guys who are, even when we're not shooting well, are still defending and we gotta keep that up.”
When the shots finally came, it was a wrap. Boston put together a 50-11 run through the middle quarters, and ran the Suns out of their own building. They started finishing stops with rebounds and running on Phoenix in transition, which created plenty of clean looks for shooters like Sam Hauser, who finished with 16 points.
“It had to do a lot with defense,” Hauser told reporters in the locker room. “They got on the glass, offensive glass early. It led to a lot of easy buckets for them, and then once we kind of flipped the script on that, it led to easy shots for us, getting out in transition and playing playing Celtic basketball.”
Remember, the Celtics struggled to secure defensive rebounds early in the season. Even then, when they were towards the bottom of the league in defensive rebounding percentage, they found ways to be at least average.
Now that they’ve figured it out, they’ve built their way to the NBA’s third-best record.