Celtics 'evenness' pays off in back-to-back road wins

Celtics 'evenness' pays off in back-to-back road wins
January 24, 2015, 1:45 am










Without a clear go-to player, the Celtics don't have a choice but to lean heavily on one another to have any shot at success.

It seems Boston's "evenness" is starting to pay off; at least in back-to-back games.

The Celtics (15-26) have won two in a row in as many nights following Friday's 100-99 win at Denver, in large part because of their ability to get contributions from just about every player Brad Stevens calls upon to enter the game.

Boston used 11 different players who logged at least eight minutes with each of them contributing something statistically from Gerald Wallace's steal to Avery Bradley's team-high 18 points.

And as Boston relishes all that has transpired during the last 48 hours, there is no mistaking that the success in these last two games was the handiwork of their collective, not individual, efforts.

"We have to go into the game with the mindset that it can be anyone's night," said Avery Bradley whose turn to shine was Friday. "That is the kind of team that we are. We all have to have confidence in each other and not be selfish and worry about ourselves and our stats. We have to just go out there and play as hard as we can and cheer for our teammates."

Said Celtics head coach Brad Stevens: "They all played well. We are going to continue to need that."

The newest member of the Celtics, Tayshaun Prince, is familiar with being part of a team with several impact players.

"I've been in that situation in Detroit a lot," said Prince who was part of the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons team. "Even when we had Chauncey (Billups), Rasheed (Wallace), myself, guys that had the hot hand, we leaned in on that guy. We were one of the very few teams to win a championship that way. Obviously when we traded those guys, it was me, Ben Gordon, Charlie (Villanueva) and Tracy McGrady; it was the same situation where whoever had the hot hand, we were going with."

Prince sees a similar situation here in Boston.

"Brandon (Bass) played well for us, made some shots. Jared (Sullinger) made some early. Tyler (Zeller) had a great second half for us. Avery (Bradley) picked up his defensive energy in the second half, took on a challenge but also made some shots in the process; everybody contributed."

Celtics point guard Evan Turner echoed similar sentiments.

"We need something from everybody on the team," said Turner who had the game-winning  3-pointer near the end of Thursday's game at Portland. "We need everybody to compete and contribute, especially on nights back-to-back and the atmosphere here (in Denver)."



bob



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Ah, A. Sherrod, it's nice to know that you're adding your stamp of approval to yet another obvious factoid. You call it "evenness," I call it "egalitarianism." They obviously don't pay you by the letter.

Sam