It may get annoying at times, but let’s face it: The Celtics can flip the switch any time they need to
Let’s make sure we remember this on those scattered, frustrating nights in which the Celtics look uninterested.
I’m going to write this down right here, right now, so I don’t forget it the next time the Celtics stink.
They can muster their best against their worthiest opponents when they so desire. They can access their discipline, tenacity, and peak effort upon command.
They can, as the annoying but appropriate cliché goes, flip the switch.
They can, and they will — all they have to do is have the will on the given night.
The defending NBA champions have proven it twice over in the last week-plus, with stirring road victories against the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers and third-place Knicks.
On Feb. 4 in Cleveland, the Celtics took a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter and used some clutch sharp-shooting by Derrick White down the stretch to fend off a team that had won 24 of 27 games at home and was desperate to stake a claim as the conference favorites. Final score: Celtics 112, Cavaliers 105.
Then last Saturday night, Jayson Tatum dissected the Knicks in front of their Madison Square Garden faithful, dropping 40 points (many on defensively hapless star Karl-Anthony Towns) and stepping on the accelerator when the hosts had cut a 19-point Celtics lead to 3 in the third quarter. Final score: Celtics 131, Knicks 104.
After watching that show from courtside, Denzel Washington probably secretly wishes he was a Celtics fan.
The question about whether the Celtics would be able to summon the best version of themselves when the moment demanded it has nagged us … well, not for the entire season, since they raced out to a 19-4 start, but certainly since mid-December. They went a pedestrian 11-9 in the stretch from a 9-point loss to the Bulls on Dec. 19 to a 2-point loss to Ime Udoka and the Rockets on Jan. 27, with double-digit losses to the Raptors, Kings, and pre-Luka Lakers in that stretch.
The Celtics, as frustrated as they were with certain losses and performances, some of which were undeniably because of inconsistent effort, remained confident that they were simply in a lull. It is the kind of thing — a weariness, a boredom — that Warriors coach and nine-time NBA champion Steve Kerr noted commonly plagues a defending champion before the Celtics pummeled his team by 40 points on Jan. 20.
The champion wears a giant bull’s-eye every game, against every opponent, and it’s human nature when you’re the constant target to sometimes take a night off even when a game is scheduled.
It is maddening that they do this, of course, even with our awareness of how awesome they can be when they decide that it’s time to seize the spotlight. The Celtics had won six of eight games — including an 18-point win over the culture-less Heat on Monday — heading into Wednesday night’s matchup with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. But even those two reassuring wins over the Cavaliers and Knicks were sandwiched around a frustrating loss to the shell-shocked Mavericks, who were playing their first game since being blindsided by the Luka Doncic trade.
This season is flying by. It feels like they raised that 18th banner to the rafters just three weeks ago, a month at most, but somehow there are just 27 games remaining in the regular season. It’s tempting to suggest that they should start eliminating those occasional no-shows against a so-so opponent from their repertoire, but truthfully, they have more important priorities.
Joe Mazzulla needs to work in some rest when he can for Tatum, who had played the fourth-most minutes in the league entering Wednesday, and to a less-pressing degree, Jaylen Brown. They already are doing so, extremely wisely, for Jrue Holiday, who has missed the last four games with a shoulder impingement and will have had 15 consecutive days off when they return from the All-Star break to play the 76ers on Feb. 20.
They have managed to (crosses fingers) stay reasonably healthy (knocks on wood), with Kristaps Porzingis looking downright spry on both ends of the court after shaking off the rust from his foot/ankle injury suffered in the playoffs (avoids a black cat, walks around a ladder, throws a shaker of salt over the shoulder).
The Celtics’ path this season is assured of being different than last year’s, when they won the East by 14 games, staked a statistical case as one of the most dominant teams in league history, and rolled through the postseason with just three losses.
The Cavaliers are a legitimate threat, and the Knicks at least have the confidence to believe they are. And should the Celtics emerge from the improved East, the Finals are likely to provide a tougher opponent from the West than the Mavericks proved to be in June. The young and wildly athletic Thunder would be a particularly challenging matchup for the Celtics.
But there we go getting ahead of ourselves, something we would scold the players themselves for doing.
So let’s leave it at this, and let’s make sure we remember this on those scattered, frustrating nights in which the Celtics look uninterested in dodging their opponents’ arrows:
When the stage is large and the stakes are high — and yes, when they are so inclined — the Celtics can flip that switch. And what happens then? Chances are it’s lights-out for anyone in their way.
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