Keeping the engine running and their three-game winning streak alive was the top priority for the Celtics on Friday night. So the team leaned on its roots against the LeBron James- and Luka Dončić-less Lakers: returning to the philosophy of Mazzulla-ball.
It took only seven minutes and nine seconds into the first quarter for Boston to double Los Angeles’ scoring total. Anfernee Simons drained a wide-open 3-pointer, giving the Celtics their fifth made three in eight attempts and a swift 24-12 lead
that set the tone for what would become an inevitable rout of the Lakers at TD Garden. Boston finished the period 7-of-11 from distance, running and gunning so quickly that even the Lakers’ locker room was left stunned in the aftermath of Boston’s 126-105 victory.
“Oh sh**,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said when reminded that the Celtics scored 39 points in the first quarter.
By the time Los Angeles head coach J.J. Redick called his first timeout, the Lakers were already in a 13-point hole, playing catch-up to the 3-point-savvy Celtics. Mazzulla-ball had been resurrected so effectively that Boston’s red-hot first quarter catapulted them to a season-high 24 made 3-pointers, while also shooting a season-best 53.3% from beyond the arc.
Needless to say, the first 12 minutes of the night went nothing like the Lakers envisioned.
“Yeah, that’s a pretty bad quarter,” Reaves admitted on LA’s behalf.
The Celtics, on the other hand, sensed a thrashing from the start. They were far more energetic, more disciplined, and the immensely harder-working group. As soon as they secured possession of the ball, Boston was off to the races, outscoring Los Angeles 20-8 in fastbreak points. Defensively, the Celtics zeroed in on Reaves — the Lakers’ second-leading scorer this season (28.9 points) — aiming to neutralize both Los Angeles’ ball movement and their top offensive threat at once.
But nothing was as telling as Boston turning to their most potent trick: the 3-pointer.
Jaylen Brown, returning from a one-game absence due to illness, made it his mission to open the floodgates for the Celtics from deep — and it worked. Brown not only led the team with 30 points, but he also added a game-best eight assists, setting up Boston’s sharpest outside shooters all night long.
“Just making the right play, watching a lot of film,” Brown said. “Seeing where I can get my guys more involved, get some easy baskets, because that’s a great sign for our team when Payton (Pritchard), Derrick (White), Sam (Hauser), and Afernee are hitting threes. So just using the attention that I have (from defenders) for our benefit.”
White led the charge with a 5-for-10 shooting performance from three, while Pritchard, Hauser, Simons, and Brown combined for 12 more made 3-pointers. But it wasn’t just the veterans. Third-year role player Jordan Walsh continued his rise, returned to the parquet against the Lakers, and contributed four 3-pointers of his own en route to a 17-point showing — just 24 hours after scoring a career-high 22 against the Wizards in Washington.
Everything clicked, and the ways of Mazzulla-ball benefited everyone on Boston’s side.
In the end, the Celtics had seven players — Brown, White, Pritchard, Simons, Hauser, Walsh, and Josh Minott — finish with multiple made threes, including three who hit at least four each. For the Lakers, guard Gabe Vincent was their lone sharpshooter to connect on four 3-pointers (4-for-8), as Los Angeles collectively shot a brutal 14-for-30 (40%) from deep.
Returning to the win column was rewarding in itself for Boston, but seeing the team’s most unproven players rise to the occasion and keep the team competitive offered an entirely different consolation prize.
“There are a lot of guys taking advantage of the opportunities they haven’t gotten yet in their careers, and it’s pretty cool to see,” Hauser said.
“Guys are making jumps, and seeing what they can do out there is pretty special. Learning about them from — from both up close and afar — when you’re on the bench watching is pretty cool to see, and when you see someone coming into their own out there and figuring out what their thing is that can keep them on the court, that’s pretty special.”
In his last three games, Walsh has shot 18-of-19 from the field (94.7%), averaging 15.3 points over his last four appearances, including three nights in double figures. It’s become nearly impossible to justify removing Walsh from Boston’s starting lineup at this point, as he’s now logged 10 straight starts dating back to Nov. 12.
So… what’s gotten into the Celtics? Have they finally found their stride? Was it a buildup of confidence that helped them feel sure of themselves? Has it been the role players complementing the starters? Or is it a testament to what’s been happening behind the scenes in practice — to the blood, sweat, and tears they’ve devoted to becoming better?
Surprisingly, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t attribute it to any of that.
“We’re definitely going through a stretch of shooting luck, that’s for sure,” Mazzulla claimed. “We’re definitely shooting the ball better than we were, so that does make everything seem better. But I think you come into the season with an identity and a level of execution that you wanna have, and then you learn more about your team. We continue to evolve offensively — having guys in different spots, playing different lineups, working the reads, what the matchups are, what the coverages are, what the spacing should be.”
Mazzulla continued: “I think we came in with an identity of how we wanted to play, and I think it’s ever-evolving based on the season. I think the guys are doing a good job of understanding that.”
It’s been a step-by-step process for the Celtics, and so far, it’s gone exceptionally well.
Boston’s win over Los Angeles improved the team’s record to 14-9 and secured a season-high four-game winning streak — the longest active streak in the Eastern Conference. The No. 5-seed Celtics still trail the No. 2-seed Knicks by just 1½ games.
