From the middle of December through late January, the Celtics looked like a talented but unfocused team playing well below its potential.
February? Different story.
Sunday’s 118-105 defeat of the rival New York Knicks was Boston’s fifth consecutive win — all by double digits — and ninth in its last 10 games dating back to Jan. 29. The hot streak has reaffirmed the Celtics’ status as top title contenders with 25 games remaining (along with the conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder) and provided solutions to some of the defending champions’ lingering problems.
One of the most baffling aspects of the Celtics’ six-week swoon was how poorly their preferred starting lineup was performing.
The unit of Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis is arguably the most talented and versatile in the NBA. But over its first 10 games together this season, culminating in an embarrassing loss to the rebuilding Toronto Raptors on Jan. 15, it posted the fourth-worst offensive rating, second-worst defensive rating and second-worst net rating of any five-player grouping (minimum 130 minutes). The Celtics went 5-5 in those games.
Players and head coach Joe Mazzulla downplayed these struggles at the time, saying the group just needed time to rebuild its chemistry after Porzingis missed the first month of the season following leg surgery, then dealt with a series of minor injuries that hindered his reintegration. They were right.
Though still not flawless, the Celtics’ starting five has looked much better since that Raptors rout, posting a net rating nearly 20 points higher (7.9) over its last 10 contests together. The team’s record in those games: 9-1.
Against the Knicks on Sunday, every Boston starter scored at least 14 points and had a plus/minus of plus-12 or higher.
“Whenever KP came back for that second 11-(game) stretch, that was kind of like our training camp to where we had to just reestablish our identity on what that looks like, and that identity changed because the environment changed,” Mazzulla said postgame. “Teams were playing us different, and they will continue to do so, so it just took time to get into each individual rhythm. What we do as a team is really important, but how each individual guy fits into that is important. So they’re doing a better job of having an understanding of how they impact each other, and we’ve got to continue to get better at that.”
Just before the Celtics’ current nine-wins-in-10-games surge began, Mazzulla was asked how the team had lost 10 of its previous 21 games despite ranking near the top in the NBA in most big-picture metrics. His answer: fourth-quarter and close-game execution.
Boston blew double-digit fourth-quarter leads in home losses to Atlanta and Houston, both of which featured costly blunders in the closing seconds. It led early in the fourth quarter at Oklahoma City but went on to lose by 13. It was tied with Sacramento entering the fourth, then lost by 17.
These issues arose even in wins. The Celtics needed last-second escapes to secure a pair of victories over lowly New Orleans. Against a Los Angeles Clippers team playing without nearly its entire rotation, the C’s coughed up a six-point lead in the final minute before hanging on to win in overtime.
Recently, the Celtics have been far more competent late in games. Over their last 10 games, they rank fourth in the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring margin and third in fourth-quarter net rating, trailing only Minnesota and Memphis. They’ve won five straight games by 13 points or more and delivered an impressive response on Sunday, burying the Knicks after New York cut their 26-point lead to four with 11 minutes remaining.
By the seven-minute mark, the Celtics’ lead was back up to 17.
“Obviously, you want to maintain that and even grow that lead, but a lot of times, it’s the NBA, those leads can shrink,” said Porzingis, who averaged 20.2 points and 2.2 blocks over Boston’s last 10 games. “And we have enough experience and enough calmness about this team that we don’t overreact, we don’t try to win the game in one possession. We know it’s going to be back and forth, a back-and-forth battle, and I think in those moments we just stay calm as a team. Obviously, we want to make a run, we want to punch back when they throw a good punch like that, so that’s just the mentality and keeping calm and going out there and executing.”
The sample size for this one is smaller, but the Celtics just won back-to-back home games for the first time since Jan. 17 and only the second time since the first week of December. They’ve been the NBA’s best team away from TD Garden this season (league-leading 23-6 record; one of just three clubs with fewer than 10 road losses) but are an unremarkable 18-10 at home, including a 7-7 mark since mid-December.
Multiple Celtics players have preached the need to perform better on the Garden parquet, and these last two outings — comfortable wins over San Antonio and New York — have been an encouraging step forward.
“We felt like we had too many slippages early in the season, especially on the home court,” Porzingis said. “We take a lot of pride in (playing well at home), and we did that last season. So the second part of the season, we’re really emphasizing that, and I think we’re doing a better job lately. Obviously (in the) postseason, we will have to bring it to a different level, but we have to take this privilege that we have playing at home with our fans at a high level. We have to take that. It’s an honor, and we have to protect that.”
The Celtics will have to wait another two months for postseason basketball, but several games in their upcoming homestand should have a playoff feel to them. Between this Sunday and March 12, Boston will host the Cavaliers (first), Denver Nuggets (fifth), Los Angeles Lakers (seventh) and Thunder (second), who all rank near the top of the NBA’s overall standings.
As of Monday, those opponents boasted a combined record of 35-5 over their last 10 games. The Cavs and Thunder also are the only teams with comparable road records to the Celtics’ this season (20-6 and 20-7, respectively).