Because the Celtics enter the ultimate week of the frequent season, Joe Mazzulla, naturally, isn’t concerned with future potentialities or hypotheticals.
Subsequent week, the Celtics will examine their playoff opponent, doable from certainly one of many play-in video video games. With 4 video video games left this week, they nonetheless have a shot on the No. 1 seed. However Mazzulla isn’t dropping his vitality on these points.
“There’s nothing we are able to do about it,” Mazzulla talked about. “Lots of it’s out of our management.”
The No. 2 seed throughout the Jap Convention, the C’s nonetheless have a shot – even when it’s extraordinarily unlikely – to catch the Bucks for the very best seed. They path by two video video games, with a freeway tilt set for Tuesday in opposition to the No. 3 seed 76ers sooner than ending the frequent season at dwelling with a two-game sequence in opposition to the Raptors sooner than Sunday’s season finale with the Hawks. Every of those teams are potential playoff opponents.
The Bucks, within the meantime, finish their frequent season in opposition to the Wizards, Bulls, Grizzlies and Wizards. The Celtics should make up two video video games over this final stretch to leap over the Bucks, on account of they private the tiebreaker between them that they earned with ultimate Thursday’s 41-point win in Milwaukee.
Mazzulla isn’t nervous about these eventualities. As a substitute, he’s focused on sustaining the extent of play the Celtics have showcased over the previous month, a stretch by which they’re 8-3 and setting up good habits on every ends on the correct time.
“What we’re capable of administration is having fun with one of the simplest ways we carried out the ultimate 11 video video games, we’re 8-3, major in every offense and safety and so we’re doing loads of good points. We merely ought to protect that going.
“I felt, over the past 48 hours (in back-to-back wins over the Bucks and Jazz), the primary recreation we have been very detailed. We managed the sport properly. Second recreation, it was simply extra of a mindset win. And so we’ve to place that collectively as we prepare for the final stretch and into the playoffs.”
The Celtics are principally healthful correct now. Robert Williams and Al Horford will doable proceed sitting the second night of the back-to-back as soon as they return dwelling to face the Raptors on Wednesday. However Mazzulla isn’t primarily going to rest starters and regulars this week, even when it’s clear they’ll lock up the No. 2 seed. He talked about he’d map out the week on a game-to-game basis.
“I actually wish to win,” Mazzulla talked about. “I like successful.”
Coaches step up
When Damon Stoudamire left Mazzulla’s workers to turn into the highest coach at Georgia Tech in mid-March, it left a void on the Celtics. Stoudamire was Mazzulla’s excessive assistant whose in depth NBA experience was priceless for the first-time head coach. The Celtics didn’t hire anyone to interchange him, so all people who remained – along with now excessive assistant Ben Sullivan – wanted to make up for the loss.
Mazzulla talked about they’ve executed an admirable job, as they’ve executed all season relationship once more to teaching camp when former coach Ime Udoka was suspended. Like then, the instructing workers has handled a difficult situation very successfully.
“The workers deserves a ton of credit score,” Mazzulla talked about. “The beginning of the yr, when all this went down, they’d a option to make about whether or not or not they’ve been going to buy in, whether or not or not they’ve been going to perception, blind perception, have been they going to be empowered and step up? And I really feel all individuals, along with Damon in the meanwhile, merely did a implausible job of understanding the circumstances and shifting on. Every man has really grown on this situation attributable to that.
“Damon leaving, it’s an enormous void, and I believe Ben has achieved a fantastic job. I actually depend on him within the recreation preparation, the expertise that he has. Folks don’t notice that he’s gained two NBA championships with the Spurs and the Bucks, so he’s seen loads. That’s actually useful. He has stepped up in that division, and our workers, the workload is extra, however I belief each a kind of guys and actually grateful for the mindset they’ve delivered to this case. They’ve made essentially the most of it and credit score to the fellows for trusting our workers. I admire that.”
Tip-ins
For the fourth and final time this frequent season, the Celtics will face a difficult matchup in defending Joel Embiid on Tuesday. They restricted the 76ers star throughout the first two conferences in Boston, nevertheless Embiid was dominant in Philadelphia on Feb. 25, when he had 41 elements and 12 rebounds and went to the free-throw line 18 cases. Over the ultimate a lot of years, Al Horford has been counted on to be a most important defender for Embiid – a job he’s executed successfully – nevertheless Williams careworn it might take additional than merely him.
“Simply bought to play pretty much as good of protection as you’ll be able to, enjoying towards a celebrity like that,” Williams talked about. “Extra of a staff effort than placing it on somebody individually.” …
Williams caught a number of of Sunday’s NCAA ladies’s nationwide championship recreation as LSU beat Iowa. The Celtics massive man, a Louisiana native, was pulling for the Tigers nevertheless was moreover impressed by Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark, who had a superb match.
“I watched the start of it,” Williams talked about. “It was my first time seeing the Clark woman. She good, she shocked me. Shout out to LSU for successful, that’s who I used to be going for, however Clark shocked me.”