SAN FRANCISCO — The Celtics took a big step back towards consistency on Monday, crushing the Warriors 125-85 in their biggest road win of the season. The game-changing run in the blowout came in the start of the third quarter where the visitors soared to a 25-10 run in the first six minutes of the period, quickly turning a competitive game into 18 minutes of garbage time.
The fact the Celtics were able this type of a win was not the story on Monday. The undermanned Warriors looked dismal without four rotation players amid a nightmare shooting outing from 3-point range (26.4 percent). Yet, it was the players on the floor when the game changed that is worth noting.
The Celtics starting five was on the floor for that game-changing run and outscored the Warriors by 17 points in their 12 minutes on the court together Monday. That sensational outing comes on the heels of a multiple positive stints in Friday’s win over the Magic by that same grouping where they played 20 minutes together. In one week, they have turned a -11 net rating over 144 minutes to net neutral with blowout wins over the Magic and Warriors. Boston took a shorthanded setback against the Hawks Saturday night but this grouping is looking like they are taking a massive step forward ever since a dismal outing against the Raptors.
“We’ve gotten better reps,” Joe Mazzulla said of the progress. “We’ve gotten better rhythm on the offensive end of the floor, understanding each other’s space. There’s more connectivity in the defense. So I like the process of where those guys have been, even through some of the times we haven’t gotten the result we wanted. So we’ve just got to keep the focus on that.”
The ability of Kristaps Porzingis to stay on the floor has likely aided that rhythm. The big man has stayed healthy for two straight weeks for the first time all year since returning from an ankle injury on January 3rd barring sitting out a back-to-back. The big man has scored 18 points or more in seven straight games during that stretch while also making multiple 3s in five straight games.
“KP is big for our team, so him being healthy and him feeling great is good for us,” Jaylen Brown said. “Especially moving past the halfway point, deeper into the year, a healthy KP is a good sign.”
The challenge now for the Celtics will be consistency as the games pile up in the next few wings. Porzingis won’t be on the floor for one of the next two games likely due to a back-to-back in Los Angeles but that will be the last one until after the All-Star break. The rhythm the Celtics have searched for within that group for the past month could now be in sight.
“Just keep playing, keep playing,” Jrue Holiday said. “We know that games are gonna come. We got a lot of them try to stay healthy and then lock into each game, play every game one at a time and we’ll figure it out.”
With Boston’s second unit with Jayson Tatum also meshing once more, the formula is there to string some wins together now. Three tough road games remaining on the trip will be a good barometer on that front for a team that’s failed to win more than two games in a row for since January 3.
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