BOSTON — For the second straight game, the Celtics missed droves of 3-pointers and found themselves down double-digits to a capable foe. But instead of letting a deficit balloon like the Clippers blowout loss, the Celtics instead clawed their way back from a 17-point deficit to take the lead in the third quarter.
Even then, the Pelicans rebuilt an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter, forcing the Celtics to once again grind for the victory. That’s exactly what they did as they beat the Pelicans 118-112 on Monday at TD Garden in an impressive win. It was a great lesson learned, C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said, as the victory didn’t come easily for his squad.
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“That to me is perfect,” Mazzulla said. “It’s exactly it. The lesson of, like I said, you just have to earn it every night. Like tomorrow’s going to be just as hard of a game in a different way and we just can’t think it’s going to go a certain way all the time.
“I really don’t care if we have a lead, blow a lead, go down 15. To me, it’s like what’s our mindset going to be handling all these types of situations. You never want to get to a point where you don’t go through stuff when you’re getting into the playoffs or even in the regular season. So it was good.”
The Celtics weren’t crisp right from tipoff, and the Pelicans also got some hot shooting as they started 5-for-7 from 3-point land. New Orleans kept adding to its lead to the point where there was at least some grumbling from the Garden crowd. But the Celtics settled down in the second quarter, where they strung together stops to cut it to a 10-point game by halftime.
Of course, it wasn’t just coming back from that original deficit. The Pelicans building an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter was also good for the Celtics’ development. They got some big-time shots from Derrick White in the fourth quarter. Notably, the C’s defense improved after allowing 36 points in the first quarter. The end result was a hardy win for the Celtics as things didn’t necessarily go as planned Monday as they had to earn it.
“That’s the key,” Mazzulla said. “I hope we get 10 of them more. Like I don’t want to be in a position where everything goes our way and so whatever we have to go through, whatever. It’s important for us. And I think the endurance is a physical and a mental endurance. Like you have to learn how to win games all the time. You can’t take that piece for granted.”
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