Joe Mazzulla successfully got Celtics to tap into their ‘darkness’ in Game 3 win vs. Knicks
āThis is the fun part. I didnāt get into the journey for it to be easy. Itās been dark, but in a good way.ā
After two mind-boggling losses at home to start their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Knicks, the Celtics’ season essentially hung in the balance on Saturday. No team in NBA history has ever comeback from a 3-0 deficit, making Game 3 a must-win.
On top of facing the possibility of having to make history, the way the Celtics fell in a 2-0 hole only revved up the heat around them ahead of Game 3. They blew a 20-point lead in each game, with their 3-point shot evaporating down the stretch of both games as they only made 25 of 100 3-pointers in the series through Game 2.
The Celtics didn’t have that issue again in Game 3. They were able to regain their stroke and play like they were the defending champions who won all four matchups against the Knicks in the regular season, making 20 of 40 3-pointers to get a decisive 115-93 win on Saturday.
As Boston was able to shake off what had been a rough few days since its Game 2 loss on Wednesday, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla insisted that his team didn’t panic. When asked if his team had listened to the outside noise, Mazzulla shook his head and smiled, saying that wasn’t the case “at all.”
In a follow-up, Mazzulla was asked why his team didn’t fall into that hole. He gave a response that will likely join his long list of memorable quotes, saying he wanted his team to embrace the rough path as many had expected the Celtics to easily take care of the Knicks in this series.
“There’s no one way of how it’s supposed to go,” Mazzulla said. “You get caught up when your expectations aren’t met. So, there’s no expectations there. We’re on a path of trying to go after greatness, and you don’t get to dictate the test that’s in front of you. All you get to dictate is how you approach it and how you respond to it.
“If you plan on doing this for a long time, trust me, it’ll be a lot worse than those 72 hours and that’s the perspective that you have to have. At the end of the day, we’ve got a test in front of us and we’ve got a group of guys that I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through it.
“This is the fun part, I didn’t get into the journey for it to be easy. It’s been dark, but in a good way.”
And when things get dark, Mazzulla wants the Celtics to use it as a galvanizing force.
“You’ve just gotta tap into your darkness, and that’s it,” Mazzulla replied when asked what he meant when things got dark.
For Jaylen Brown, his way of embracing the “darkness” ahead of Game 3 was to stay even-keeled as he scored 19 points to go with six rebounds and five assists on Saturday.
“It’s been like that my whole career,” Brown told reporters on how he blocked the outside noise. “So it’s really no different — when adversity hits people tend to get excited or emotional. We just got to stay the course.”
Jayson Tatum, who had a rough first two games of the series, took a different approach in embracing his “darkness” as he scored 22 points in the win.
“It’s just a sense of joy that I play with, right? Coming into a game with an angry face and mad at the world — that’s not who I am. That’s not when I play my best,” Tatum said on his approach for Game 3 and how he blocked out the noise over the three days between games.
Of course, the Celtics’ mental and emotional approach to Saturday’s game could only get them so far. They needed to execute on the court, too. Mazzulla game plan version of embracing the “darkness” featured two key points: don’t commit live-ball turnovers and win the end of quarters.
“I can’t stress to you the importance of not throwing the ball to the other team so they get out in transition,” Mazzulla said when asked if Saturday’s win was as simple as shots falling for the Celtics. “They had 28 points in transition in Game 2, and not ending quarters well, when it’s at 20 and it gets to 12 with 58 seconds left in the third – you have to end quarters. You have to start quarters well. You have to value the basketball. You have to win the margins.”
The Celtics did what they had to do in those two areas on Saturday. They only committed eight turnovers as the Knicks only recorded three steals. They outscored the Knicks in the final two minutes of the first two quarters by seven. In the third, the Knicks outscored the Celtics by three in the final two minutes, but that only cut Boston’s lead to 26.
As the Celtics were able to win in those two areas Saturday, they also had another strong defensive performance. The Knicks only shot 40 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3-point range as New York has yet to shoot better than 43 percent from the field so far in the series.
While the Celtics’ half-court defense has been strong, Mazzulla pointed back to one of the key things he wanted his team to do offensively that led to their defensive success.
“The best way to defend these guys is with proper spacing, proper reads so that we don’t have live ball turnovers that allow them to get out into transition and rebound,” Mazzulla said. “So, you’ve just got to take care of those margins.”
Finally, another area of embracing the “darkness” might be to engage in mental warfare. Once again, Mazzulla directed his team to intentionally foul Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who’s been a poor free-throw shooter. When Robinson missed his sixth straight free-throw in Saturday’s game, he was visibly upset at himself. Mazzulla kept employing that strategy even as the Celtics were up by 29 in the third quarter, with Robinson finishing the day by making just 4 of 12 free throws.
While some wondered why the Celtics kept intentionally fouling Robinson late, Mazzulla sternly explained his reasoning.
“Just process over results,” Mazzulla said. “You just always stick to the process of what you think gives you the best chance to win on that possession and to win in that game.”
The time between Games 3 and 4 certainly won’t be as dark as days between Games 2 and 3 were, but the Celtics might have to embrace the “darkness” again if that’s the result they’re going to get. The Celtics will look to even the series in Game 4 on Monday.
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