The Boston Celtics have steamrolled the opposition for most of the 2023-24 season. Thus, seeing them play like a mortal basketball team is a jolt to the senses. On Thursday night, the Celtics lost their second game in a row for just the fourth time this season, suffering a 118-109 defeat to division rival New York Knicks that was not as close as the final score line would suggest.
The Knicks were simply more locked-in; they leaned into their bruising identity, outrebounding and outscoring the Celtics in the paint by 16. This spoke volumes to the way the two teams approached the game. Of course, the Celtics have nothing to play for in the regular season anymore; the last thing they want is to overwork their key guys and risk injury, thus explaining the drop-off in their play over the past two games.
Nonetheless, according to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla believes that his team were also in a “tough spot” in their past two games (the other game came against the Milwaukee Bucks) as they faced “desperate” teams that are still jockeying for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference.
At present, nothing is certain yet in the East playoff picture other than the Celtics having homecourt advantage throughout the postseason. The number-two seed is still up for grabs, especially amid Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury, giving the Knicks some strong incentive to play their hearts out on Thursday.
It’s understandable that the Celtics would want to take it easier, as the main goal is to get through the rest of the regular season unscathed. But given the lofty standards they’ve set for themselves, seeing the way they played in their past two games is very disappointing, especially for a coach that’s looking to lead this storied franchise to its 18th championship.
Joe Mazzulla criticizes Celtics’ effort, but with a catch
Losing is part of sports, even for a team as good as the 2023-24 Celtics. It’s an even more understandable part of the game when the regular season is coming to an end and the team has nothing to play for other than pride. But what head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t like at all during their loss to the Knicks was their effort level, particularly in the first half.
Nevertheless, Mazzulla isn’t too worried; after all, as the old adage goes, one can learn more from losing than winning.
“I did not like the effort level in the first half. … I actually don’t mind the result of the last two games because I think it’s important. Going in with a bunch of wins and feeling good about yourself isn’t any better than having a little bit of a bloody lip,” Mazzulla said in his postgame presser, per Celtics on NBC Sports on Twitter (X).
Boston’s reserve corps get some good reps
The Celtics went down by as many as 30 points, and Joe Mazzulla put in a full reserve unit to end the game; that group made the score line a bit more respectable. Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, and Svi Mykhailuk combined for 31 of the Celtics’ 38 points in the fourth quarter, an explosive scoring period that cut the Knicks’ lead to single digits, making Joe Mazzulla proud of the effort they played with.
“I like the way the start of the fourth quarter went. I really like the way those guys competed at a high level at the end of the game, I think it’s important,” Mazzulla added, via Bobby Krivitsky of SportsMap Radio.
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