Feeding on success, Celtics hit the road

https://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20181226/feeding-on-success-celtics-hit-road



Feeding on success, Celtics hit the road




By Scott Souza / The MetroWest Daily News
Posted at 5:32 PM



BOSTON — Jayson Tatum kept trying to tell himself what the Celtics have been repeating to each other — to varying degrees of success — all season.

This wasn’t all about him on Christmas Day against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden. One missed 3-pointer, then another, and yet one more that didn’t go down, didn’t matter as much as it did for him to get back on defense, alter a shot, clean up the glass, then maybe get to the foul line, in the pivotal early Eastern Conference matchup.

“I didn’t shoot it as well as I would have liked to,” Tatum allowed after he missed 11 of 18 shots, including six of seven 3-pointers, on the holiday. “But, for me, in my next step as a player, I admire all the top players in the league and just how they affect the game if they’re not scoring. Just trying to help their team.

“That’s what I aspire to be. Just to try to affect the game any way possible — rebounding, getting a block, just trying to get a stop even when your shot’s not falling. Because at the end of the day all that matters is if we win or lose.”

At the end of the day, that’s exactly what the Celtics did in dramatic 121-114 overtime fashion. And, while Kyrie Irving was the star of the Christmas pageant with 40 points, 10 rebounds, the game-tying shot in regulation and two 3-pointers that decided the outcome in OT, Tatum’s fingerprints were all over the victory as much as any other player.

The second-year forward scored 23 points. But it was his 10 rebounds, two blocks, two steals, eight made free throws and team-best plus-22 that made the point the players had spent two days talking about during their team summit earlier in the weekend.

“We had gang rebounds all over the place in the fourth quarter and overtime,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, “and I thought Tatum, especially, felt like he was getting his hands on a lot of balls for us.”

The second straight triumph sends the Celtics on the road for three games with a much better feeling about their progress than they had during a 35-minute, closed-door meeting following Friday night’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. A blowout of the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, in which the Celtics led by as many as 33 points in the second half, and a 13-1 run to close OT on a national Christmas stage validated that the collective good is the best way to contender status for the Celtics.

“Seeing the evolution of where this team is now and where we can be,” Irving said, “and also appreciating where we’ve come from. Because it’s been bad sometimes. We all know. It’s been bad sometimes. It’s not been that bad. It’s just been bad from [our expectations].


“So it’s been bad, but figuring it out. Like I said, I’m patient, and I enjoy every moment.”

Over the next five days that will mean figuring it out in Houston Thursday night — where the underachieving Rockets will be without All-Star Chris Paul (hamstring) — Memphis Saturday night, and then in San Antonio on New Year’s Eve.

“It’s no good answering questions after we’re losing one, or losing two, or losing three, about what’s going on,” Irving said. “Let’s just keep it going and keep having fun. Keep getting to know one another and enjoy this next road trip that we have coming up.

“It seems like the timing right now is pretty perfect for us in just what we need to figure out. We were at home, we lost a few, and now we’re on the road. This is really where we build our continuity to be a veteran-led team.”



bob



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This is a pretty important road trip for the Celtics. I think that going anything less than 2-1 repeats the entire inconsistency that they have shown for most of the season.

It is time for this good team to begin to put a lot of the inconsistency behind them.

wideclyde wrote:This is a pretty important road trip for the Celtics.  I think that going anything less than 2-1 repeats the entire inconsistency that they have shown for most of the season.

It is time for this good team to begin to put a lot of the inconsistency behind them.

I was thinking the same thing, this is a pretty big trip to see if this team has figured it out yet.

Tatum is just 20. He turns 21 March 3rd. What maturity he shows already. Phenomenal.