As good as the Celtics were last season, they proved to be maddeningly frustrating at certain times.
Both in the regular season and playoffs, they routinely lost games they shouldn’t. They made a habit of playing down to inferior opponents.
Monday night in Washington, D.C., would have been a prime example. After two exciting, high-profile victories against the Knicks and Heat to start the season, last season’s Celtics may have suffered a letdown against the rebuilding Wizards.
Not so much this time.
In what may be a sign of the Celtics’ improved maturity, they handled business easily. Jaylen Brown scored 36 points and Jayson Tatum had 33 – both in just three quarters – as the C’s blitzed the Wizards from the opening tip and never looked back in a dominant 126-107 victory.
The Celtics were on fire from the jump. They led 37-11 at one stage in the first quarter, scored 77 points in the first half and led by as many as 37 points late in the third quarter as they had absolutely no problem against the Wizards’ porous defense. Leading by 33 entering the fourth, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters.
Mazzulla acknowledged that those letdowns from last season were something they addressed, but cautioned that it was still one game.
“Just because it’s a sign of growth now doesn’t mean it may not happen at some point,” Mazzulla told reporters in Washington. “We’re definitely aware of that and something we think we can control is the way we come out and start games. We just have too many good players and we have a chance, so I think we’re really trying to make sure we come out with the right mindset every single game. …
“It doesn’t mean it’s going to go our way, but I really liked our approach to the game throughout the majority of it.”
The C’s are now 3-0, marking the first time they’ve had such a start in back-to-back seasons since 1976 and 1977.
“It’s important that we get off to a good start to the season,” Brown told reporters. “Mindset, mentality is something that we’ve all been preaching, Joe has made sure that he’s emphasizing that. As a leader on the team, I’ve been making sure we’ve been emphasizing that. We gotta run through the finish line. It’s nights like tonight where it’s easy to take your foot off the gas, but if you want to do what you say you want to do, you gotta come out and play the game the right way.”
Some takeaways from the Celtics’ victory:
– Brown was criticized for a less-than-stellar season-opening performance, when he scored just 11 points and didn’t take a shot in the fourth quarter. But Mazzulla praised him for having the right mindset, staying engaged and making some winning plays. The Celtics knew that with how loaded their roster is, that big nights will inevitably come for each of their stars.
Brown responded with a 27-point night against the Heat. On Monday, it was clear that Brown had the hot hand again. The Celtics rightfully fed him. Brown scored 27 points in the first half, including tying a Celtics record with seven 3-pointers. At one point, he had 25 points in just 17 minutes played. While Brown forced shots and made several bad decision in the season opener, he’s righted the ship over the last two games with smart and confident performances.
“(He’s) patient, getting to his spot, good shot selection,” Mazzulla said of Brown. “Not even the last two games, but what I’ve seen from him since the preseason is a dedication to defense regardless of how his offense is going, and so that to me is huge for us when a guy like him can play defensively regardless of how it’s going and then he’s really picking and choosing his spots well. He’s gotta continue to stay in that mind frame.”
– One sequence in the first quarter may have summed up the night.
The Celtics were already leading comfortably when Wizards guard Jordan Poole had the ball in transition. With Kristaps Porzingis in his path, Poole turned his back and then put up a wildly casual turnaround 3-pointer. But Porzingis was all over him, blocked the shot and then ran the floor, where he put in another easy basket.
Porzingis, who played the last two seasons in Washington before his trade to Boston this summer, returned and feasted on an easy matchup against the small Wizards, who started Kyle Kuzma at center. The Celtics big man scored 10 points in the first quarter as part of the team’s dominant offensive start that saw them make 10 of their first 12 shots and shoot 64 percent in the opening period.
– The Celtics’ starters, unsurprisingly, have taken up the bulk of the scoring production. For a second consecutive game, they combined to score 100-plus points on Monday. But they haven’t got much from their bench so far. The bench scored just eight points against the Heat, and even with the benefit of the starters being pulled for the fourth quarter, only combined for 26 on Monday. Payton Pritchard went 0-for-8, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range, and the bench scored just 18 points in the fourth as the Wizards cut their deficit to 16 late.
Most nights, it won’t matter, because the Celtics’ top six is so talented. But there will be times when a bench player needs to step up, and the C’s would benefit from having another trusted depth scoring option. It’s certainly still early, but it’s something to watch for as the season progresses.
– Despite their dominance on Monday, ball security remained an issue for the Celtics as they committed 18 turnovers. It’s an early, concerning theme after they committed 13 and 15 turnovers against the Knicks and Heat, respectively.
