Peak ‘Celtics basketball’ has been achieved by this year’s 20-5 team - Gary Washburn/Boston Globe

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/17/sports/peak-celtics-basketball-has-been-achieved-by-this-years-20-5-team/

Peak ‘Celtics basketball’ has been achieved by this year’s 20-5 team

By Gary Washburn Globe Staff, December 17, 2023


The difference between this year’s 20-5 record and last year’s 20-5 is poise, focus, and consistency.

The players know. The coaches know. They understand the difference between this year’s team after 25 games and the one from last year.

Exact same records. Dramatically different teams.

Another prime example of the disparity occurred Sunday at TD Garden, where the Celtics were punched in the face early by the young, rising Magic. Not only did the Celtics respond to their early deficit, but they spent the rest of the late afternoon staving off Orlando rallies before finally forcing the Magic to relent with poise, focus, and consistency.

They blew out the Magic, 114-97, for their fifth consecutive win and finished 5-0 in what was tabbed as a difficult homestand with consecutive games with the Cavaliers and Magic.

What the Celtics did during this stretch was soundly beat their opponents, allowing little suspense down the stretch. Last year, the Celtics constantly flirted with disaster until rallying to save themselves on many occasions. It wasn’t that the 2022-23 Celtics were not a quality club with winning players; they often experienced lackadaisical stretches that forced them to exert needless energy to rally or hold leads. It was a characteristic they carried into the playoffs and eventually led to their demise in the Eastern Conference Finals.

This crew’s goal is to advance past that stage, to reach basketball heights not seen in Boston in nearly 16 years. In order to reach that apex, the Celtics had to work on their consistency and stop getting bored with the growth process, eliminating complacency for the sake of improvement.

“What we did this week was impressive, I feel like,” forward Jayson Tatum said. “I’m not certain that last year we would have won all four of these games. But playing two really good teams that present different challenges. Teams that, especially Orlando, we’ve struggled with in the past. Winning these four games at home. I don’t know what anyone else [thinks] but it’s impressive.”

True, the Celtics aren’t even a third into the regular seasons and championships aren’t won in December, but good habits are learned and memorized during these times. For years, the Celtics have had issues putting away teams, allowing 20-point leads to be whittled down to 5, unable to concentrate long enough for 48 minutes to win without hairy moments.

On Sunday, the Magic cut a 14-point deficit to 6 early in the fourth quarter before Jaylen Brown took over and scored 15 points in a 5:36 stretch. He capped off the barrage with a 3-pointer in front of the Orlando bench for a 103-86 lead with 6:25 left.

Moments later Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley called timeout, a means of surrender because he knew his team’s chances of stealing this game were exhausted. The Magic weren’t going to win in Boston — not this regular season. If you recall, Orlando came into TD Garden and won both consecutive meetings last December.

We’ve been waiting for this Celtics team to relent, to wilt until the pressure of being favored to win every night, to beating the most talented teams on the floor most nights.

“We are starting to play what I would call ‘Celtics basketball,’ ” coach Joe Mazzulla said. “From a mentality standpoint, from a toughness standpoint, from a defensive standpoint, an identity that reflects what it means to play like the Celtics. This week we’ve shown that.

It’s not that this year’s team wants to denigrate last year’s squad that had a distinct personality from this club with Marcus Smart and Grant Williams instead of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. But the players notice the change. They know they’re more prepared and equipped to face adversity than they have before.

Whether that’s the personnel additions, maturity, or just being tired of falling short of the NBA Finals, the Celtics are finding that next level. A 4-1 record in this stretch would have been impressive but they went 5-0, brimming with momentum and confidence heading into a difficult four-game West Coast road trip that starts Tuesday in Golden State.

“I think just the competitive nature, and I think their growth as players, just an identity, we know what it looks like when we’re playing really well,” Mazzulla said of the difference from last year. “We know what it’s like when we’re not and the guys do a good job of getting back to [successful ways]. For example, in the third quarter, we kind of lost our poise on the offensive end, but it didn’t affect our half-court defense and we were able to snap back and get back to our offensive execution.

“I think that’s the key: not living in those bad spaces for too long. Knowing you’re not going to avoid them but you can’t stay there as long and you’ve got to get out of them quickly.”

There are 57 regular-season games to go, so the Celtics are far from a finished product. But the offseason personnel changes as well as change in approach and improvement in focus separates this team from their past brethren. The record is the same for now, but the growth and consistency makes this team entirely different.