How playing hard, coaching hard is fueling Celtics’ recent success

How playing hard, coaching hard is fueling Celtics’ recent success originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics do not have as much talent as they did last season.

That’s what happens when you lose Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Luke Kornet in one offseason. And they also have had to deal with losing a perennial first team All-NBA player in Jayson Tatum to an Achilles injury.

Advertisement

When you don’t have as much talent as some of the opponents you play, the work ethic has to increase. You have to outwork and outhustle the other team. You need to win every 50-50 ball, set good screens, rebound well, commit to tough defense, get to the free throw line, etc.

Playing hard means doing the little things well. For example, Boston leads the league with 9.2 screen assists per game. The C’s also rank No. 4 in box outs, No. 6 in defensive loose balls recovered and No. 10 in charges drawn.

The Celtics have been one of the hardest-working teams in the league, and it’s one of many reasons why they are 10-2 in their last 12 games — a run that has seen them rise up from the play-in tournament spots to sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference standings.

“(Head coach Joe Mazzulla) just wants our guys to be the hardest playing team every night,” Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell said on the latest episode of NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Talk Podcast. “And sometimes it may not happen, but we have enough depth on our team that we — Joe’s going to find the pieces to play hard. It may not be for 48 straight minutes, and no team does that, but we want to get like 40 minutes or 42 minutes of hard-playing basketball.

Advertisement

“If we can do that, we don’t worry about guys making shots or missing shots. We worry about how hard we’re playing and if we’re competing. Joe just wants guys who can compete at a high level and bring some force. If you’re out there, make an impact doing something.”

Not only do the Celtics play hard, but the players are coached hard. Mazzulla and his staff are pretty demanding.

“If Joe Mazzulla is yelling at you, that means he…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/playing-hard-coaching-hard-fueling-130247923.html

Author :

Publish date : 2025-12-11 13:02:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.