PHILADELPHIA — At Celtics shootaround on Sunday, Luka Garza has ice on his knees, his usual post-workout regimen.
In his head, he is prepared to play heavy minutes in Sunday’s Game 4 against 76ers, just as he did in the Celtics’ final regular season game, when he exploded for 27 points in a season-high 38 minutes of action.
More likely, he’ll play just a few minutes.
But, just as he has all year, he’ll be ready for any outcome.
“I expect to play,” Garza said. “If I do, or I don’t — it doesn’t matter.
It’s just I got to have that mindset to be ready and go out there and try to make some plays.”
In Friday’s Game 3 Celtics win, Garza played 4 minutes, all of which came in the second quarter. In that span, he secured an offensive board that led to a Baylor Scheierman three-pointer, hit a top-of-the-key three of his own, and again found Scheierman for his second triple.
His mindset in these playoffs has been the same it’s been all year.
“I just stick to what’s worked for me in the past — obviously, just trying to screen, make energy plays, offensive rebound, do what I can to kind of help the offensive flow,” Garza said. “And try to not make any game plan mistakes and stuff like that.”
After a career season, Garza is mostly out of the playoff rotation, but he’s staying ready for those spurts when his number is called.
Joe Mazzulla turned to Garza for rotation stints in Games 1 and 3, with the Celtics two primary bigs in foul travel; Queta has averaged 4 fouls in 19 minutes per game, and Nikola Vucevic has averaged 3.7 fouls in 22 minutes per game this series.
“When I see someone getting foul trouble a little bit, I know it’s probably coming,” Garza said. “I just prepare my mind for every single game.”
Jaylen Brown referred to Friday’s Game 3 as a Game 7.
Garza said the team will need to dig deep and embrace that mindset again.
“If you want to win a championship, it’s not hard,” Garza said. “So, you got to have that mindset every single night in the playoffs. You know how important it is. It’s mandatory.”
History would suggest the Celtics are in a pretty good spot. Of the 600 NBA teams that have taken a 2-1 series lead, 480 have gone on to win the series.
But for Celtics aren’t worried about that history.
For them, the only past that is on their mind is their 111-97 loss in Game 2.
“There’s obviously a heightened sense of urgency knowing what happened in Game 2,” Garza said. “So we know we got to have a certain humility about us, knowing that we got two more games to win. We got to approach it that way. And obviously, it’s a huge one.”
