Celtics Set Bar Even Higher

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/boston_celtics/2015/03/celtics_set_bar_even_higher




Celtics set bar even higher
Signature win for squad





Photo by: Matt Stone
Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart looks on as center Kelly Olynyk and center Brandon Bass celebrate in the third quarter of the NBA game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the TD Garden on Wednesday, March 11, 2015.


Thursday, March 12, 2015
By:  Steve Bulpett



A half hour after the Celtics had beaten Memphis last night, Tony Allen was sitting in the Grizzlies dressing room trying to figure out exactly what had happened on the Bostonians’ go-ahead play in the final minute.

He wanted to know how Marcus Smart had gotten free to catch and convert Evan Turner’s inbound pass while being fouled. The rookie’s free throw put the Celts up, 91-90, with 51.6 seconds left.

Suddenly, Celtics assistant coach Darren Erman stopped in to say hello to Allen, who was on the club here during Erman’s first stint with the C’s. Allen had barely gotten his own hello out when he informed Erman that was a hell of a play.

The Celtics had a number of them in what became a 95-92 autograph collection victory in a season that is looking less like a disposable campaign by the day.

And there were a lot of names scrawled over this one. On a night when Jeff Green was Jeff Green, going a mundane 4-for-13 from the floor on the way to 13 points (and a worst-on-his-team minus-8 when he was on the court), the Celtics showed passion, knowing it was required to make up for the Grizzlies’ talent edge.

Missing from the lineup was Isaiah Thomas, who’s only been the Celts’ best player since arriving at the Feb. 19 trade deadline. He’s averaged 21.4 points in Green, and it was fairly assumed that his absence would be assured destruction for the Celts at the hands of the team with the third-best record in the NBA.

But the C’s welcomed back two players last night. Avery Bradley had missed the last three games with a sprained left elbow, and he returned with a team-high 17 points, two of them on a 21-footer with 7.9 seconds left that made it a three-point game.

Kelly Olynyk had played in four games since missing 18 with a sprained right ankle, but, trust us, this was his first game truly back.

Showing the assertiveness coach Brad Stevens has been seeking, Olynyk stepped into a pair of 3-pointers on his way to 15 points, and added six rebounds and three assists. His latter trey came with 41⁄2 left in the game after Memphis had matched its largest lead of the game (four) and appeared ready to take this one home.

The Celtics were putting a great onus on their big people to slow the Grizzlies’ formidable interior tandem of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. The main trio of Olynyk, Brandon Bass and Tyler Zeller did a more than reasonable job, abetted by double-teaming from mates. Randolph had 14 points, and Gasol added nine, but each attempted just nine shots from the floor.

What made these matchups more profitable for the Celts is what their own people were able to do at the other end of the floor. In addition to Olynyk’s floor-stretching attack, Bass made 6-of-8 shots on the way to 12 points, while Zeller had six of his 12 points from the free-throw line.

“They did a good job of executing,” said Gasol. “They made some tough shots. Their game plan was obviously to take away the paint, and on offense they spread you so much that if they make shots, it’s tougher. But I think we’ve got to do a better job of imposing our will and executing and making the right plays at the right time and passing and just simple basketball.”

The Celtics were simply good when they had to be. Smart made two shots all night, and both came in the last quarter. Ten C’s played in the final frame, and seven of them scored, including Phil Pressey, who got his chance in Thomas’ spot and also added a trey at the first quarter buzzer.

The Grizzlies were reluctant to give the Celts much credit for the outcome, with veteran Vince Carter saying his club has been playing to the level of its competition, and “sometimes it bites us in the butt. I just hope losses like this don’t come back and haunt us. I think this is a game we had in hand, and we gave them life and they hit some shots. And the rest is history.”

While Memphis has honest hopes of playing for this year’s title, Carter showed a measure of unawareness saying, “When you play against a team that’s not playing for something, giving them (21) turnovers, giving them the chance to get down and get easy baskets, I think that’s what we did early. We got them easy baskets and got them in a groove. Now every shot you take, you’re in a comfort zone. I think they started feeling comfortable, and that was just a great shot Avery hit at the end of the game.”

The Celts actually shot worse (.435 to .474), and there is that little matter of a playoff berth the C’s would like to capture.

But Tony A. knew what he’d just seen. And he used some history to gaze beyond this game and season.

“They just played harder than us,” Allen said, adding without prompt, “And as far as their future, they’re going to be pretty good, man. Danny Ainge knows what he’s doing. He’s a wizard. He knows what he’s doing.

“Just look back at the 2004 class wwhen he drafted me, Al Jefferson, Justin Reed, Delonte West. He got some good draft picks that year, so I know that’s what he plans on doing. And then before you know it, he’ll make a blockbuster trade. I know it’s in him.”

The Celtics may not have known a month ago that a game like this was within them. But again they’ve raised the bar a few inches.



bob
MY NOTE:  Kelly better be careful chest-bumping with Bass, he'll end up in the 3rd row.


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Sure! Set the bar higher. Why not?

This game would have been lost all during last year and also in the early parts of this year.

Story of the game: The Celtics never lost their rhythm, and the Grizzlies never found theirs.

Sam