DETROIT — Even when the Celtics were mired in mediocrity, Jaylen Brown stayed constant with his message. They were a good basketball team, the team’s star insisted, even if they were figuring things out under a first-year coach and the wins weren’t coming easy.
As the Celtics have won 11 of their last 12 games — the latest a 103-94 victory over the Pistons — they’re playing far and away their best ball of the season. Boston has looked like a different team, relying on its defense while improving the offensive side of the ball. The end result thus far is a 36-26 record and looking like a legitimate threat in the East.
That’s a long way from when the Celtics were dropping winnable games and the vibes seemed off. But winning cures all — and Brown has been validated for staying the course.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time, the difference is, you kind of go through the course of the season,” Brown said postgame. “There’s ups, there’s downs. There’s highs, there’s lows. Some people don’t stick around or they’re not here for the lows but they want to be here for the highs. That’s cool, that’s fine, we’re not paying attention to it.”
The Celtics are doing it in all kinds of ways, too. They’re winning close games, like they did against the Pistons on Saturday. They’re blowing out their opponents more often than not. The stats, while at times faulty, keep spelling out a squad that’s been one of the best in the East.
Of course, some context is necessary. The Celtics have hit a favorable part of their schedule. And when they have faced a team like the Nets, their opponent has been short-handed and not at full power. But this is the NBA; the only thing the Celtics can do is take on their next opponent.
“At the end of the day, you could lose any given night,” Brown said. “We experienced that early in the season when we dropped games to teams that we thought we should have won, and we might have won games that we probably could have lost. So at the end of the day, you’ve got to play who is put out in front of you. We don’t make the schedule. We just play.”
The Celtics finally have some identity, too. They matched up against the Pistons’ physicality, grinding through what was a gritty game Saturday. The defense will lead the way, but Boston’s offensive numbers continue to improve. That’s where the crisp ball movement has been a huge important; the Celtics finished with 31 assists on 42 made buckets Saturday.
It still remains to be seen if these are the real Celtics, though. It was only a month-and-change ago when they were grappling through inconsistency and hovering around the .500 mark. The recent play poked through the cracks at times, but it was never over a consistently long stretch. But there are 20 games left for the Celtics to get as high as possible in the standings, and the recent play has been a validating stretch.
“Come playoff time, to be in these tough challenges is good for us,” C’s coach Ime Udoka said. “Our execution in the fourth quarter was great. We were encouraged. They were making some tough shots. We were up two at halftime, down four at the end of the third and we felt like we didn’t play our best at all on both ends. So we were kind of encouraged by that.”
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February 27, 2022 at 03:58AM
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Jaylen Brown validated with Celtics’ winning streak, though team taking it ‘1 game at a time’ - MassLive.com
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