The Boston Celtics finally snapped their three-game losing streak and hopefully their recent skid by reclaiming the NBA’s best record with a 121-109 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night by returning to a brand of basketball that saw the team attack the rim and look for easy makes off cuts and transition offense.
While many players brush off media criticism if they read it at all, star Celtics wing Jaylen Brown admitted postgame that not only has he been paying attention to what has been said about his team’s struggles of late, but also hinted that he’s been even more judgemental of his own play.
“We’ve got a lot of critics in Boston,” explained Brown via CLNS Media, “but I’m my biggest.”
For superstar Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, just getting back in the win column was huge. “We needed a win,” he offered. “We hadn’t been playing great.”
“For everybody to contribute and for us to finally get back in the win column, everybody feels a little better about themselves after tonight, and hopefully, it continues.”
If it does, it will have to start on national TV against the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day one game removed from their having an embarrassing blowout at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets.
The question for Boston has never been whether they were capable of such play as was needed to secure the win against a plucky T-Wolves squad, but whether they could keep it going long enough to come away with a victory on a night when their 3-point shot was collectively in the gutter.
“We were tough,” said coach Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics’ effort attacking the cup when their jumper was nowhere to be found. “We made tough plays.”
“That’s just something we have to commit to, night in and night out,” added the Celtics coach.
And while Boston did show large stretches of positive play against Minnesota Friday night, keeping up their killer instinct throughout the course of the rest of a long 82-game season is proving a tougher task than the season’s hot start might have initially suggested.
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