For most of this season, the Boston Celtics have been the best team in the league. For weeks, they were running the best offense in NBA history and were blowing teams out on a nightly basis.
If you look at the standings, it looks like the Cs haven’t lost a beat from where they started this season, but they’ve definitely cooled off recently. After losing games to the Orlando Magic, and Indiana Pacers at home, the alarm bells started ringing for some hard-core Celtics fans.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla, however, still thinks his group is playing well despite what the recent game history will show you.
November saw a team that was at its best for entire games. The Celtics regularly won every quarter and nailed just about every shot. Now it’s more of a fight to find that stride, to the point that the games turn their way in the aggregate.
The Celtics have struggled to get a feel for games’ direction, letting things snowball before trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat. The game Friday was full of lulls but no grand collapses.
“Doesn’t every team go through lapses during a game?” Mazzulla said. “I think we’ve created this expectation that you can’t be losing and playing well at the same time. I think that’s possible. I believe it’s possible to be playing well but losing. I think it’s also possible to be playing sucky and winning. And so I think you have to build an awareness to how the game is going.
Just because you lose doesn’t mean you suck. Joe Mazzulla doesn’t want the Celtics to conflate results with process, writes @JaredWeissNBA.https://t.co/NUlS14ihEw pic.twitter.com/sQLvbU8BkO
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) December 24, 2022
The Celtics are still at the top of the East, clinging to a half-game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks for first place. So while the Cs have slowed down on all fronts, their hot start was no fluke, and they are going to be a problem in the East this season.
Are The Boston Celtics A Lock To Make The NBA Finals?
With Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and a deep cast off the bench, Boston is one of the most talented teams in the NBA, and they have a Finals run under their belt already. Needless to say, the odds of them making a return trip are looking pretty good.
But until the deed is done and the job is finished, Tatum and his team are going to play with all of the urgency and desperation they can.
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