As Thursday’s practice at the Auerbach Center wrapped up – 48 hours before their NBA playoff run was set to begin – the Celtics were letting loose.
On one court, Marcus Smart was tossing up half-court shots, trying to sink one while not jumping. When he made one, the Celtics point guard repositioned behind the 3-point arc to bounce a shot in, and hit one of those, too. On another court, Derrick White, Grant Williams and assistant coach Ben Sullivan were playing a game of HORSE, a common occurrence during shoot-arounds throughout the season.
Just a little fun before the most important games of the season get underway.
The Celtics used their painful defeat in last season’s NBA Finals as motivation during summer workouts and carried that over to the start of this season, when they played with an edge. That wore off over the course of the season. But as they begin the postseason on Saturday, that edge is back.
“We’re back to (being) pissed off,” Smart said. “We’re happy and we’re smiling here, we’re getting ready, we’re having fun with it. But Saturday, when we step on that court, you’re not going to see many smiles.”
The goal has been clear and simple all season – get back to the Finals and finish the job. But they know they can’t skip steps to get there. Mission No. 1: Beat the Hawks.
“Nobody’s really looking at the Finals right now,” Jayson Tatum said. “We got this Game 1 on Saturday. Nothing after that is promised. We’re just worried about taking it one game at a time.”
Five things to watch as the Celtics begin their first-round series against the Hawks:
Mazzulla has performed admirably as the Celtics’ head coach this season in the face of unique circumstances. He was promoted to the job just days before training camp after the suspension of Ime Udoka. He showed humility and understanding in helping a shaken locker room get through adversity that could have derailed the season. Despite being a first-time head coach, he guided a team with championship aspirations to 57 wins.
But now comes the biggest spotlight as Mazzulla tries to become just the sixth rookie head coach in NBA history to win a championship.
Mazzulla had some natural growing pains this season and it will be interesting to see how he applies the lessons and experiences he went through. But he feels ready.
“I feel prepared because of the roster we have, the team that we have,” he said. “I feel prepared because of the coaches that I’ve worked for. Brad (Stevens) and Ime have done a great job in playoff settings and so I feel that preparation just from those two situations.
“As big as this is, I still think it comes down to the most simple of details. Through all those playoff series I’ve been in, as much as it was about sub patterns and matchups, it was also about not sending guys to the free throw line, sprinting back in transition, getting more shots than your opponent, rebounding the basketball. All those things, I think you have to do the little things at a higher intensity while being ready to adjust.”
This series presents a tantalizing matchup of guards. Dejounte Murray joined Trae Young to form an exciting, high-scoring backcourt in Atlanta this season. But the Celtics are deeper and more well-balanced with Marcus Smart, the maturation of Derrick White and the addition of Malcolm Brogdon.
It will be interesting to see how Mazzulla handles playing time for that trio in their first playoff series together. As a veteran, Smart has an understanding of what it takes to win playoff games. White has arguably been the Celtics’ third-best player this season. Brogdon has been the missing piece of the bench and consistently makes the right plays offensively. But they all can’t play at the same time, and with rotations shortened in the postseason, at least one of them is going to be the odd man out during critical moments. Smart said they know one of them will have to sacrifice, which they’ve done all year.
“All three of us, we’ve all sat down and talked and let each other know we’re here to win and that’s our main goal,” Smart said. “We’re going to sacrifice, whatever that means, to reach that. And for us, we understand that we all three can’t play at the same time. There’s not enough minutes. We understand that some of us might be on the court for a good period of time together, but somebody’s gotta go to the bench and we understand that if that happens, it’s nothing personal.
“We’re all trying to win and it’s for the betterment of the team. When you got guys that buy into the system and understand what we’re trying to reach, it’s easy to get along and it’s easy to make the strides that we have been making. Especially going into the playoffs.”
The Hawks get after it on the offensive glass. In their play-in game win over the Heat on Tuesday, they corralled 22 offensive rebounds that led to 26 second-chance points.
Mazzulla pointed out Atlanta’s offensive rebounding as one of its strengths since Quin Snyder took over for Nate McMilan in late February. The Celtics coach has stressed winning on the margins all season and rebounding will certainly be an even bigger emphasis for this series. In a loss to the Cavaliers last month, Mazzulla admitted he was irritated that the C’s hadn’t learned the importance of defensive rebounding late in games. They’ve gotten better since, but it must remain a priority.
“I think it’s just understanding where they’re crashing from, understanding personnel,” Mazzulla said. “They’re very deliberate in who crashes, and then knowing … (Clint) Capela had eight offensive rebounds in the play-in game, and so he has the ability to change the game so you have to do a great job on him and all five guys got to do it.”
One of those guys will be Robert Williams, who missed all three of the matchups against the Hawks this season but should make a major difference on the glass.
“We all know what Rob can do. We’ve all seen it time in and time out. We love it,” Smart said. “When you have someone of Rob’s caliber, he definitely swings the margins back towards our way and helps us with that. And obviously, it’s not just going to be on Rob. Everybody has to get in there and help, he’s only one guy. And they got a couple that’s going to the glass and they’re going to keep crashing, so we all have to get in there and help Rob.”
When Mazzulla was beginning his transition as a head coach, he said he modeled some of what he wanted his identity to be from Snyder, who engineered a potent offensive system when he was with Utah that was built on spacing. Mazzulla used those same principles to build his Celtics offense that was on a historic pace to start this season and finished as one of the most explosive in league history.
Now, the two will face off in a series that could evolve into a track meet. The Hawks have been one of the fastest-paced teams in the league since Snyder took the job, and Mazzulla knows the Celtics have to be organized and detailed on both ends to counteract them, especially their transition defense.
“Transition defense starts with our offense. And so if we do a great job with our spacing, with our reads, and our offensive organization, that will limit some of their transition opportunities,” Mazzulla said. “At the same time, they do get out, and so we have to do a great job. But I think building a connection between how we play offense and how we start our transition defense is very important.”
The oddsmakers are predicting this to be a short series in the Celtics’ favor. The C’s are +275 to sweep the Hawks and +180 to win the series in five, which are the two best odds among all the outcomes.
The Celtics caught a break when the Hawks beat the Heat in the play-in game. The Heat, while wildly inconsistent this season, were still the No. 1 seed last season that took the Celtics to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals, and it was more likely they would push the C’s to a long series in the first round. It’s important that Boston takes advantage and makes this a short series – like when they swept the Nets in the first round last year – since they’ll likely have to endure a long, grueling series with the 76ers and potentially the Bucks in ensuing rounds. An easy first round – and getting some extra rest – will only benefit them in their pursuit of a championship.