C’s still feeling Bullish
Move into sole second with dominant win
The jumbled nature of the Eastern Conference considered, this matchup was a potential first round playoff preview.
And if Wednesday night was any indication of how such a series would go, the Celtics have something else to feel good about after their 117-94 win over Chicago — a half-game lead on Milwaukee and Philadelphia for second place in the Eastern Conference.
They now head to Milwaukee on the crest of a three-game win streak, with Thursday night’s prize a clinch of the second spot and a play-in team as their first round opponent.
The climb has been long, especially considering where this team was two months into the season. But the Celtics seem to be better for all of those early struggles.
“Health and playing our best basketball are paramount going into the playoffs, and that’s what we’re doing right now,” said Ime Udoka. “Two more games to fine tune some things, figure out what we’re going to do and go from there.
“It started clicking a while ago,” said the Celtics coach. “Once you taste that winning and see what it takes to get there, health played a big part of it as well, but guys finding their roles, settling into rotations played into it. Peaking at the right time, the successful run we’ve been on, is better than early in the season, obviously.”
Above all, the Celtics are now playing to their firstyear coach’s specifications, with lockdown defensive performances on most nights and a brand of ball movement that is the opposite of their iso-heavy ways early in the season.
Wednesday night found them at their best in that regard. One game after posting a season-high 39 assists against Washington, the Celtics swung through Bulls coverage with 29 assists on 43 baskets. They shot 49% overall, 45.9% from downtown (17-for-37), with their star Jayson Tatum content to fill the playmaker’s role with a near-triple double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Jaylen Brown, once again an early catalyst, led a balanced attack with 25 points and seven rebounds. Al Horford had, quite literally, a perfect night with 17 points and 10 rebounds, including 7-for-7 shooting (3-for-3 from downtown).
Horford, like everyone following this team, can naturally see the difference.
“I feel like it takes focus. It really does,” said the veteran center. “When I look at our guys and they call timeouts and I see it in their eyes. Everybody’s locked in. We understand that we need to, we can’t relax, to your point, leads are given up all the time. And not getting rattled, and making sure that we’re staying locked in as much as we can. And that also comes with taking good shots at the right times. Just because we’re up 20, that doesn’t mean we’re going to start jacking shots or trying to get mine type of thing. We keep playing the right way, and when you do that, you put yourself in a good position.”
The Celtics, at least in the short term, are also making up for the absence of Rob Williams, who is not expected to be available in the first round as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Should the Celtics survive the first round, including the very real possibility of a matchup against Brooklyn, the team that eliminated them in five first round games last season, they hope to get their supreme rim protector back.
But in the meantime Horford seems to be working well with Williams’ replacement in the starting lineup Daniel Theis.
“I got a chance to play with Daniel for a couple years here when I was here before. I feel like he’s a very smart player,” said Horford. “We understand each other. We’re just trying to figure out how we can help our team, and to have him here, it’s huge for us obviously. Especially with Rob out now. We feel good playing with one another. We’re reading each other, trying to make plays, trying to make the game easy.”