Closing time
Celtics’ reserves play Kings for a night, reward Mazzulla’s faith by delivering in clutch
The Celtics have already secured homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, leaving them no obvious goal to chase over the remainder of the regular season. Coach Joe Mazzulla said he intends to try to win every game, but also intends to show some caution to ensure his team is rested and healthy for the postseason.
Against the Kings on Friday night, he gave a hint about how he might handle this stretch run. With Jaylen Brown and Derrick White both sitting out, the other top four rotation players were pulled for the final nine minutes.
Those notable absences certainly made it easier for Sacramento to completely wipe away an 18-point fourthquarter deficit. But Mazzulla was never going to waver from his plan.
Although there were some uneasy moments, his trust in his backups was eventually rewarded when Xavier Tillman converted a floater with 7.4 seconds left and the defense forced three consecutive misses at the other end, allowing the Celtics to escape with a 101100 win at TD Garden.
“This is fun,” Mazzulla said. “This is awesome. Couldn’t simulate a better environment of stress, pressure, chaos. It’s a perfect environment to execute. That’s why when those guys are in, you hold them to the same standard you hold everybody else to. I thought they did a great job just making plays.”
In addition to their unusual lategame rotations, the night offered the Celtics chances to experiment with various zone and switch-heavy defensive schemes. They’ve earned the right to close this season however they wish.
The Kings, though, still have plenty on the line. They are in a Western Conference logjam involving the 6-9th place teams, who are all desperately trying to stay above the cutoff for the playin tournament.
So even as the Celtics downshifted in the fourth quarter with their big lead, the Kings kept pushing with their stars
until the end. It nearly worked out.
Trailing, 98-80, with 5:30 left, the Kings rolled off a massive 20-1 run and took a 100-99 lead — their first since the opening quarter — when De’Aaron Fox banked in a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining.
At the other end, Sam Hauser, who struggled through a miserable 1 for 18 shooting night, had his final shot, a runner in the lane, blocked by Keegan Murray. But after Murray briefly recovered the ball, Hauser knocked it toward Tillman at the top of the key.
Once the big man gained possession with about 10 seconds left, Mazzulla frantically tried to call a timeout from the sideline, but it was not granted. That was fortuitous. Tillman sliced into the paint and drained a floater from just inside the foul line.
“I knew it was good as soon as it left my hand,” he said.
Mazzulla said he did not have a moment to really savor Tillman’s shot, because he was concerned that Fox, who torched the Celtics for 40 points, was prepared to race upcourt with Boston’s defense on its heels. He immediately started pointing at the speedy point guard.
But Kings coach Mike Brown called timeout, and the Celtics could reset. After Fox missed a contested 17-footer from the right wing, Murray swooped in and had an excellent look at a putback, but could not convert. Then Colby Jones’s final tip-in missed, although he absorbed contact from Boston’s Svi Mykhailiuk on the play.
Brown rushed onto the court, seemingly furious about a no-call that could have significant implications for his team. Mazzulla, meanwhile, displayed a burst of emotion, pumping both fists and screaming in celebration, clearly pleased that his backups had found a way.
“Those guys are no different than anybody else,” he said. “They’ve won games for us in the past, they’ve started games for us. Everybody gets treated to the same level, the highest level, and you have to be able to win games with different guys. And I felt like it was important in that particular moment that they earned the right to do whatever it took to win the game, because of the work they put in.”
The Celtics made just 12 of 44 3pointers and overcame a sloppy start in which they mustered just 3 points over the first six minutes. Payton Pritchard scored 21 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points and 11 rebounds in just 24 minutes to lead Boston.
Porzingis said he kept his heat packs on to stay warm for most of the fourth quarter, but soon realized this game would rest in the hands of the reserves. Although these unusual lineups will never be seen during key playoff moments, a player or two from them could be needed at a critical juncture, so experiences such as Friday’s can have value.
“No matter what would have happened today, that moment would have helped that group just build more and more confidence,” Tillman said. “Next time we’re in this situation, we know how to handle it.”