BOSTON — “MVP! MVP! MVP!”
The chants echoed across TD Garden as the Celtics inched toward a win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Normally, that chant is reserved for Jayson Tatum, the Celtics’ perennial MVP candidate.
This year, Jaylen Brown has received his fair share of MVP cheers en route to a career season that’s already seen him secure his first-ever All-Star start.
But, on Sunday night, the “MVP!” chorus was directed toward a more unlikely character: Neemias Queta.
Queta, after all, appeared to be floating.
The 26-year-old posted one of the best games of his NBA career, scoring a career-high 27 points (on 10-14 FG) to go alongside 17 rebounds and 3 blocks.
The Celtics, in turn, tallied a 114-98 win over the 76ers, improving to an astounding 40-20 record, the Eastern Conference’s second-best mark.
Amazingly, ten of Queta’s rebounds were on the offensive glass.
And, he did it all in just 27 minutes of action.
How did he do it?
“Just trying to have fun out there,” he said after the win.
Queta smiled when asked about the Garden’s boisterous MVP chants, which erupted multiple times in the game’s second half.
“I got distracted, missed a couple of free throws,” he said. “Got to work on that.”
The Celtics continue to push Neemias Queta toward greatness
After the win, Joe Mazzulla recalled how he informed Queta early last summer that he’d be the starting center on the Celtics this season. That came after the departures of Luke Kornet and Al Horford in free agency, and after Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Atlanta Hawks.
Almost overnight, Queta went from being the Celtics’ fourth-string center to the frontcourt’s anchor.
“Part of telling him in the summer that he was going to be the starting center was giving him the time to properly wrap his mind around —- physically, mentally, emotionally prepare himself—— for what it means to be the starting center for the Celtics,” Mazzulla said. “And he’s taken on that ownership and responsibility well, and he’s got to keep it going.”
Shortly after that conversation, Queta represented Portugal at EuroBasket, going into the FIBA tournament with the knowledge that he was poised to be a critical part of the Celtics’ success. That tournament run came on the heels of offseason knee surgery, and Queta credits the national team experience for preparing him for this season.
“Playing for Portugal was huge for me this summer,” he said. “It allowed me to get a lot of rhythm, allowed me to get a lot of confidence, too. And just from that point on, it was just like a building stage. We worked a lot during the summer, pre- and post-surgery. It was a big summer for me in terms of fine-tuning a bunch of different stuff. We worked on all types of aspects — rebounding, pick-and-roll defense, we worked on match-up recognition. It was a big summer for me.”
As a result, Queta has had a career year, averaging 10.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 24.9 minutes per game, while shooting 64.5% from the field.
He’s tallied three double-doubles in his last five games, and last month, he logged back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in his career.
But many around the team, such as Jaylen Brown, feel like Queta has yet to reach his final form.
“I’m very pleased just to see his progression; he’s been working hard all season long,” Brown said. “I’ve been in his ear, talking to him. He’s done a good job this year. I feel like he has another level he can tap into, and I feel like he’s starting to tap into that.”
As such, it was fitting that right in the middle of Queta’s most dominant stretch of the game, Joe Mazzulla scolded him for swatting a shot out of bounds instead of saving it in-bounds.
Mazzulla said postgame that there have been three recent instances in which Queta has unnecessarily blocked a shot out-of-bounds that he thinks Queta could have salvaged.
“I do think that’s an area of growth,” Mazzulla said. “Like, if you can catch it, catch it. Why give a team another possession? You just get the ball, and then we go in transition. So it’s definitely something he’s gotta better.”
To those not intimately familiar with Mazzulla and his coaching style, it might seem overly negative that, amid Queta’s career night, he was visibly distressed at a mistake that could be perceived as very minor.
But, from Queta’s perspective, it’s that exact mindset from Mazzulla and the coaching staff that has allowed him to develop into the player he is today.
“It’s easy when you have a night like this to settle down,” Queta said. “When Joe keeps coming at you like that, you’re only going to get better. Like he says, something that’s occurred a lot in the last couple of games. In the moment, I don’t think I can get it, but then when it settles down…”
Queta, upon further review, did think he could have salvaged that block. And, he’s committed to blocking a shot and subsequently keeping it in-bounds in the coming days, a play that could give the Celtics a transition opportunity, or at the very least, a chance at a defensive board.
“Hopefully, I get a couple of those next couple of games,” Queta said.
Although Mazzulla remains laser-focused on the details, and pushing Queta to be the absolute best version he can be, he hasn’t lost sight of the big picture.
“You have to just have a level of gratitude and appreciate how hard he’s worked — but not just this year,” Mazzulla said. “He’s been here for three, four years, right? So the process of what he’s gone through to earn what he’s got is really what I care about.”
“We have to wake up and do it again tomorrow, so there’s that piece to it, but there’s the piece of — he’s taken on the ownership of the responsibility, and he cares about working hard and understanding how important what he does for us and for our team.”
Just moments after Queta finished addressing reporters in the locker room, he headed to Milwaukee along with the rest of his teammates; the Celtics (40-20) will face the Bucks (26-33) on Monday night.
Mazzulla loved what he saw from Queta on the first night of a back-to-back.
But, there’s a reason he’s not satisfied. It’s the same reason he’s not satisfied every night.
“In less than 24 hours,” said the Celtics head coach, “we have to do it again.”
