Both Bruins and Celtics are staying in character in the playoffs so far
The Bruins submitted a typically efficient 3-1 victory at TD Garden in the series opener, but Game 2 brought an unwelcome surprise.
Time for a four-games-into-the-gauntlet status report on the Bruins and Celtics, who are confirming that their championship aspirations are valid in their distinct, perfectly in-character ways.
Let’s start with the Bruins, since they are used to being first and through four games against the feisty Florida Panthers are reiterating that they are who we thought they were in all the right ways.
Bruins
It’s easy to forget now after the Bruins went down to Sunrise, Fla., and reminded the Panthers that sundown on their season is coming soon — winning Games 3 and 4 by an aggregate 10-4 to take a 3-1 series lead — but there once was some suspense in this series.
The Bruins submitted a typically efficient 3-1 victory at TD Garden in the series opener, but Game 2 brought an unwelcome surprise.
The Panthers, taking advantage of the absence of captain Patrice Bergeron and some stunningly sloppy play by the Bruins’ defensive corps, scored four goals in the third period to steal a 6-3 win at the Garden.
Now, the unexpected is baked into the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is why it annually rates as the most tense and thrilling tournament in sports. But with Alex Lyon — a 30-year-old with extensive first-hand knowledge of the fine cities of the American Hockey League — starting in net, the Panthers were not supposed to offer much resistance to a Bruins squad that set regular-season NHL records for points and victories.
To be tied after two games in Boston? Yeah, that got the attention of the cynics among us … briefly. The Bruins did what great teams are supposed to do when adversity starts snooping around: They went on the road, smoothed out their bumps with the efficiency of a Zamboni, and reestablished their superiority.
To do that without Bergeron (who could make his series debut in Game 5) and two-time playoff scoring leader David Krejci (out with an injury since Game 3) was further confirmation of this team’s enviable quality depth.
Former NHL MVP and current third-liner Taylor Hall has 4 goals and 7 points in the series, which somehow is already the most productive postseason of his career, while Tyler Bertuzzi — one of the savvy in-season acquisitions by general manager Don Sweeney — is right behind Hall with 2 goals and 6 points.
We probably all owe Sweeney — who was often maligned while systematically assembling this juggernaut — an apology, huh?
The journey won’t get easier — do the Maple Leafs actually have poise to accompany their talent for once? — but the Bruins are the finest team in the league, and they’re acting like it.
As for the Celtics, well, it’s a little more complicated with them, as it often is, but fans had to feel good about their status as they headed into Tuesday night’s Game 5. They took a 2-0 series lead at home, lost Game 3 in Atlanta, then set aside their worst instincts at the most important time to take Game 4 from the Hawks Sunday night.
They should wrap up this series in five, and it would behoove them to do so with Sixers superstar Joel Embiid dealing with a knee injury that could affect his status early in the pending second-round matchup with the Celtics.
Celtics
But we know how the Celtics can be with prosperity. They’re sometimes like a lottery winner who goes out and punts away the winnings on a fleet of Ski-Doos, some FTX stock, a few thousand more Powerball tickets, and then really blows the rest by taking gambling advice from sports radio hosts.
They can lose focus and devolve into bad habits when they have a seemingly comfortable advantage. One of the reasons they ran out of gas in the Finals against the Warriors last year was that they lost winnable home games along the way (most notably Game 5 against the Bucks, Game 6 against the Heat) that would have allowed them to close out the series earlier.
Tuesday night’s Game 5 will be some indication as to whether they learned their lesson about letting series last longer than they should, but I did find Game 4 encouraging in that regard. For much of the first three quarters, they played an exasperating brand of offensive basketball, particularly Jayson Tatum, who can roast any Hawk off the dribble at any time of his choosing but instead settled for repeated crossover-crossover-crossover 25-footers.
When he plays that way, it’s contagious. Upon rewatching Game 4, I counted 22 Celtics possessions in which the player who brought the ball over halfcourt took the shot. They weren’t all bad shots; several were drives through an open lane by guards Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White, and Marcus Smart, who threw down a ferocious dunk on such a foray with 2.2 seconds left in the third quarter.
But many were forced or ill-considered shots. And you know what? They all but eliminated that whoever-brings-it-up-shoots-it approach in the fourth quarter, when it happened just four more times. With the game in the balance, they committed to moving the ball on offense and playing their most appealing and effective style of basketball. (Al Horford, who played the best zero-point game you’ll ever see, was often at the fulcrum of this.)
And their defensive commitment, particularly by Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Robert Williams, was unwavering. I’m not sure they would have won that game last season.
These Celtics, as frustrating as they can be when their focus wanes and they start playing like they’re aware of their point totals, do know how to flip the switch and play their best when the situation demands it.
I know, it would be far less stressful if they could just keep it on all the time. But that’s not who they are now, is it?
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