For the first time all regular season, there was an added bit of intrigue for these Celtics in Friday’s matchup against the Pacers. The team had hit their first “inconsistent” stretch in nearly a year, having dropped four of their last seven games despite facing underwhelming opponents. All of a sudden, the perennial favorites to repeat were looking at a four-game gap in the standings behind the Cavs while staring at a brutal stretch of schedule upcoming in January. The team needed to right the ship now and do so in a hurry.
The message was simple from the Boston locker room after Wednesday’s loss to the 76ers on that front and Friday’s game would be an important test of the response. The task got tougher when Jrue Holiday (shoulder) and Kristaps Porzingis (ankle) were ruled out before tip, giving Joe Mazzulla a thin bench to work with against a talented Pacers squad that had won five of their last six games.
However, Mazzulla knew the Pacers were coming in town a little bit worse for the wear after a tough loss to the Thunder Thursday night in Indiana. With Obi Toppin (ankle) and Andrew Nembhard (leg) also scratched, the Pacers would be fatigued and vulnerable if the Celtics were able to jump on them early.
The Celtics played well out of the gates in the opening minutes, showing disciplined closeouts, good ball movement and better attention to detail. However, the game was still tied at 11 after six minutes due to some poor early shooting with no signs of a runaway emerging.
From there, Jaylen Brown got it going a little bit and when it was his normal time to hit the bench with three minutes left in the first quarter, no one came to the scorers table. Instead, Mazzulla threw a bit of a curveball, sticking with his All-Star duo of Brown and Jayson Tatum for the entire first quarter (outside of a last second defensive sub for Tatum) and the move paid dividends immediately.
Brown erupted for 15 first quarter points on 6-of-6 shooting. Meanwhile, Tatum did all the little things well (7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals) to jumpstart a rout in the opening minutes. Boston led by 17 points after the first quarter and the Pacers failed to seriously threaten the rest of the way.
Mazzulla was asked about the choice after the game.
“It’s important to do that from time to time,” Mazzulla said of playing his duo star together longer. “Keeps us on edge, keeps them, keeps the other team on edge, can’t get a rhythm to what our sub pattern is, and just creates an environment to where we have to be able to perform regardless of what we think is going to happen. So just work to do situations like that throughout the year.”
Whether the decision was preplanned or an audible in the moment, it was the perfect play by Mazzulla on a night where the stars were setting the tone from the jump. Boston desperately needed an easy win for both morale purposes after a rough stretch and to get some rest before a hellish schedule looming next month. By turning the game into a rout early, Mazzulla was able to buy light nights for Al Horford (20 minutes), Sam Hauser (20 minutes) and Jayson Tatum himself (32 minutes) while Brown got some extra run late to make a run at his career-high before finishing with 44 points.
With Hauser hobbled lately and Derrick White dealing with a mini-slump, the Celtics needed to lean a bit more into their top dogs on a night they played without two starters. Doing it early particularly on a night when they were so locked in paid dividends for Mazzulla.
Overall, it was Boston’s best win of the season, with a season-high 142 points and margin of victory (37 points). After a noticeable rut over the last few weeks, Mazzulla had this group looking like last year’s champions once again with the help of some clever tactics.
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