The Celtics suffered their first true blowout of the 2023-24 season on Thursday night in horrific fashion against the Bucks. A rested, motivated Bucks squad was awaiting a Boston squad looking to get back on track after losing five of their last eight games. Meanwhile, the Celtics arrived at their hotel in Milwaukee at 3 a.m. ET according to team sources, coming off a hard-fought overtime win over the Timberwolves Wednesday night. The Celtics had their entire roster available for Thursday night outside of a resting Al Horford but this was a weary crew that was playing their fifth game in seven nights. If there was ever a scheduled loss in the NBA, this was as close as you’ll find to it in the regular season given the travel schedule involved.
Of course, that’s not the sole explanation for Boston’s horrific 135-102 loss, a game that was over before halftime as the Bucks built up a 75-38 lead with the assistance of a 25-0 run midway through the second quarter. The Bucks are going to present the Celtics with a lot of defensive challenges this year and Boston is going to be in a heap of trouble if they aren’t hitting their jump shots against them on any night.
Still, the biggest development on Thursday night was not the loss by the Celtics itself. Instead, it was the strategic rest maneuver that Joe Mazzulla pulled in the second half. Rather than wasting minutes chasing an improbable comeback, Mazzulla simply elected to sit everyone in the second half. No starter played more than 21 minutes.
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“It’s tough,” Mazzulla told reporters in Milwaukee of his choice. “They want to play; they prepared. Again, it was my decision. It wasn’t theirs. At the end of the day, it’s my responsibility to do what’s best for them and the team. If I said, ‘Hey, you want to go out there?’ They’re going to do it. It was me. I told them and I felt like it was my responsibility to do it.”
This maneuver from Mazzulla showed shades of Gregg Popovich resting a contending Spurs squad amid a tough schedule stretch a decade ago. However, the idea of Mazzulla doing this even a year ago would have been far fetched. Back then, the rookie coach was riding his starters for big minutes in wins or losses, even playing them for long stretches in blowout wins to help them to run up big stats.
All that mileage took a toll on this group to various degrees in their loss to the Heat last postseason as they looked like a group that ran out of gas for much of the extended playoff run. One year later, Mazzulla’s attitude with minutes and the regular season has clearly shifted with this decision. Resting guys strategically is becoming more of a priority and it was evident on Thursday night more than ever. If a game is gone, Mazzulla was willing to let it go for the long game. That’s not a leap he was willing to make for much of last season.
For the Celtics to be in prime form entering the postseason this year though, this is the right mindset to have. A loss to the Bucks hurts in the standings but there’s no need to make it worse by wearing down an already tired group with more minutes. Getting ready for the Rockets on Saturday took priority once the game was out of reach even if resulted in the white flag being waved earlier than expected.
Mazzulla may not be perfect but this type of evolution in his thinking bodes quite well for the Celtics’ title chances this year. Boston can be well rested and still take home the top seed in the East in the regular season by the time April rolls around. Decisions like we saw on Thursday night should help with that process.
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