Celtics want to take ‘small games’ seriously

On paper, a trip to Washington is not the most dangerous for the Celtics. On the floor, Jaylen Brown and his teammates confirmed it brilliantly, crushing the Wizards with a flattering limit score (126-107) as the gap was enormous for more than three quarters.

“It’s obvious that, at the end of the first quarter, the match was over”even confesses Wes Unseld Jr. to ESPNwho had no choice but to see the damage for him and his team.

It must be said that the Celtics were diligent and serious from the first moments. They pressed inside on the size of Kristaps Porzingis, defended perfectly (Jordan Poole broke his teeth several times on the Massachusetts wall) before Jaylen Brown’s 3-point missiles ended twelve minutes perfect (42-19). Then in the middle of the second quarter, the gap exceeds 30 points…

“We can control how we start matches”says Joe Mazzulla. “We have a lot of good players and we want to make sure we have the right state of mind throughout the match even if that doesn’t mean that things will necessarily go the right way. I really liked our approach. »

Don’t take the easy route

Because if the 2022 finalists logically reduced their intensity in the last quarter, since victory was in their pocket, they stayed the course for 36 minutes. However, they could have taken the easy route.

“It’s hard to have so much talent, because it invites laziness and complacency. This will be our enemy this season. It will be us against us”warns Jaylen Brown at a press conference.

This kind of victory, the third in a row, is therefore a good sign for the winger: the Celtics are serious.

“It’s important to get off to a good start this season. We talked a lot about our state of mind, our mentality. Joe Mazzulla emphasized this. As a leader, I do the same. We have to go to the end. It’s during evenings like this that it’s easy to take your foot off the accelerator. But if we want to succeed, we have to play the right way,” he concludes.