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Taylor Snow

BOSTON – Heading into Game 3, there is one glaring area where the Celtics say they must return to form: defending the 3-point arc.

Such was their downfall in Game 2 Tuesday night, when the Miami Heat shot a playoff franchise-record 23-of-43 from deep, propelling them to a 111-101 series-splitting win.

It wasn’t just an anomaly for the Heat; it was also an unusual event for Boston, which led the Eastern Conference in 3-point defense during the regular season by allowing opponents to shoot just 35.2 percent.

However, Al Horford says there’s no room for such anomalies in the playoffs.

“You just have to be better,” he said Thursday before heading down to Miami for Game 3. “You have to be better defending the 3-point line. They shot a lot of them, a high frequency, and I know we will be better coming in the next game. There'll be more of an awareness to that. And for us, defensively continuing to make sure that we do a good job of getting stops and holding them to one shot.”

In order to get stops, Joe Mazzulla says his team will need to close out better, get their hands up in Miami’s airspace, and not allow as many open threes in transition. Boston did a much better job of that in Game 1 when it held the Heat to just a 32.4 clip from deep.

“We can control our transition defense and we can control a decent percentage of those 3s,” Mazzulla said. “And so that's the first step is always going back to taking away the things that you can control.”

Typically, the Celtics are in control of that area of the game. Not only do they have a top-tier 3-point defense, but they were also the third-leading team in shot contests this season.

Horford played a huge role in that area, claiming the fourth-best shot-contesting rate in the league.

“They are going to do what they are going to do, so we just have to be prepared to execute what we do and making sure that we're engaged at a high level defensively, which I expect our group to be,” said the veteran big. “We've been very consistent with that all year, and we have to show it again.”

Another rare occurrence in Game 2 was how limited Kristaps Porzingis was on the offensive end. Miami held him to just 1-of-9 shooting from the field, which represented his fewest field goals in a game all season in non-injury-shortened games.

However, Porzingis is not letting such a performance affect him mentally. He expects to bounce back in Game 3 and deliver something closer to the 7-of-13 effort he had in Game 1.

“Nothing changes for me; good game or bad game, I stay the same,” he said. “We looked at the things we can do better. I looked at my possessions. I’ll make sure I’m better offensively, 100 percent.”

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C’s Confident Their 3-Point Defense Will Return to Form in Game 3

BOSTON – Just because Boston dominated Game 1 in a 20-point win over the Miami Heat doesn’t mean it can take its foot off the gas for Game 2.

The Celtics plan to pick up the intensity even more on Wednesday night to establish a commanding lead in the series.

After Tuesday’s practice, coach Joe Mazzulla said he wants to see his team “doing what we did with higher intensity and higher physicality. I think that’s what Game 2 calls for … There are small details we can get better at on both ends of the floor. We worked on that today. But I think the first step is what mindset, what physicality we’re coming in with.”

There was a great deal of physicality in Game 1 – especially late in the fourth quarter when Caleb Martin delivered a hard foul to Jayson Tatum, causing a scuffle to break out.

The Celtics must be willing to absorb those blows, just like Tatum did by popping right back up, shaking off the hit, and making both free throws. And they must be willing to stand up for each other just like Brown did by getting in Martin’s face and letting him know that he and his teammates aren’t backing down.

“Every game is a fight,” said Brown. “You gotta win the game and you gotta win the fight. Both of those things are important. We embrace both. Being a better, smarter team. But also being a team that's willing to dive on the floor and being the team that's able to set the tone physically and not back down.”

Boston knows that the Heat are bound to bring more of a fight in Game 2 since they’re now in a hole. Brown believes the best way to approach a desperate team is to put yourself in their shoes.

"We gotta come out with the same mentality, almost like we're down 1-0 instead of we're up,” he said. “We’ve gotta come ready to play, ready to fight because we can't expect them to come out and do nothing less. They're well-coached. They're organized. They're disciplined. They're going to have a good game plan of attack. We gotta make sure we take them out of it.

“They’re going to be hungry, desperate. They’re going to come out fast, even more aggressive, trying to turn us over, trying to crash the glass hard, being physical, even more knocking us to the ground. Just try to win that physicality, match it any way we can. That’s what I foresee. But we’ll be ready, and we’ll be ready to do the same thing.”

The C’s also have to be ready to face some major Miami adjustments. Erik Spoelstra treats these series like chess matches, and Mazzulla will have to do the same by preparing his guys for counterattacks.

“You have to have a healthy approach to understanding that every game is going to be different,” said Boston’s coach. “If you think that you’re not going to see a different version of Miami, then you’re kidding yourself. At the end of the day, it’s about giving what that game needs and having the expectation that it’s going to be a fight, and you’ve just got to get ready for a fight.”

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Mazzulla Wants ‘Higher Intensity, Physicality’ in Game 2

BOSTON – Even though the Boston Celtics were given less than 40 hours to prepare for their first-round opponent, Jaylen Brown says he has been mentally prepared for this Miami Heat matchup for weeks.

After being eliminated by Miami in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, Brown felt that it was inevitable that he and the C’s would tip the postseason off against their biggest playoff rival of the past decade. His vision came true when Miami beat Chicago in Friday night’s play-in game to become the eighth seed, setting the stage for Game 1 on Sunday in Boston. &nbsp;

“I knew it was going to be Miami,” Brown claimed following Saturday afternoon’s practice. “I knew it from a few weeks back. Just coming from last year to this year, it just makes sense.”

He added, “We’re looking forward to it. It should be a great challenge. Miami is a tough team, well-coached, play hard, they’re physical – all the stuff that we need to emphasize, so it should be fun.”

Part of that fun comes with the possibility of avenging last year’s result. Though for the players, they’re taking a clean-slate approach for the most part.

“You don't forget, but you do your best to live in the moment,” said Brown. “You learn from those experiences, and you can’t bring those thoughts into it. You gotta approach it like you’ve got a new team, you’ve got new players … You come in, you stay in the moment, and you take it one day at a time.”

One of those new players is Kristaps Porzingis, who is just about jumping out of his shorts in anticipation for what he views as his first real playoff experience. This is what he came to Boston for, and now it’s just a few hours away.

“I think it's going to be special,” Porzingis said. “My two experiences in the playoffs was one in the bubble and the second one with almost a full arena, but still kind of COVID. And now finally to play in a full, full arena in Boston, it's going to be very special, I think. So I cannot wait for tomorrow.”

The Celtics had tremendous success against Miami during the regular season, going 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 15.0 points. But they expect the Heat to step their game up in the postseason –&nbsp;even when considering the likelihood that Jimmy Butler could miss the entire series with a sprained MCL.

“We’ve got to expect them to be ultra-aggressive, ultra-handsy, and trying to do all the little things they can to mess up the game a little bit to get some advantages,” Porzingis said. “We have to be ready for that. It’s gonna be a war.”

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Boston Ready for the Heat, KP Excited for 1st Playoffs as a Celtic

BOSTON – As Celtics players entered the lounge at Auerbach Center earlier this week, they were greeted by a message on the television screen. Bold white numbers on a black background read: “0-0.”

It was a simple message with a clear meaning. Those 64 regular-season wins were nice, but now it’s time to reset for the playoffs. And all that matters now is enabling that first number to count up from zero to 16.

&nbsp;“We’re extremely hungry and excited,” Jayson Tatum said of the impending postseason following Wednesday’s practice. “We did a great job of staying present throughout the year, not looking past anybody or looking forward from month to month. Stayed present, and that’s what we’re going to continue to keep doing. Staying present, not looking beyond anything besides Sunday. That’s the only thing that matters.”

To get ready for Sunday, the Celtics are taking an all-out approach. They held one of the longest practices in recent memory on Tuesday. It was described as an intense, physically demanding session, which included some fresh drills to keep the players on their toes.

“We did full-court, no dribbling for two, three minutes,” Jrue Holiday said, for example. “That was one of the first drills we did, and I don't think we expected that. A lot of stuff yesterday was definitely to kind of get our wind and kind of learn how to play with each other without necessarily dribbling the ball."

Wednesday’s practice was more of a mental grind, according to Tatum, as the team covered various playoff-specific situations they might find themselves in during the upcoming weeks. They’ve also been watching film from previous championship runs, hoping to gain insight and inspiration, as well as recent Celtics playoff runs to pinpoint what went well and where they came up short.

“We looked at the ’08 team, we looked at the 2010 Lakers that won the championship, and just how every path is different,” Tatum said. “The ’08 team went to two Game 7s in the first and second round (despite being the No. 1 overall seed), so just getting us prepared. It’s not always going to go maybe how we expected or wanted it to go. But we gotta be ready for it.”

The C’s also have to be ready to adjust quickly at the end of the week, since they do not yet know their first-round opponent.

As of Wednesday afternoon, they have four potential foes – Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta, or Chicago – any one of which they could be facing Sunday. That list will be narrowed down to two tonight, as the winner of Miami-Philly will become the No. 7 seed, and the loser of the Atlanta-Chicago game will be eliminated. Whichever team loses the Miami-Philly game will then play the winner of the Atlanta-Chicago game Friday night, and the winner of that game will become Boston’s first opponent.

Regardless of who they’re playing, the Celtics know that they’ll be ready.

“I’m excited about it,” said Al Horford. “Our group as a whole is really trying to do things the right way, trying to play for one another, trying to play with that Celtics identity, and I feel like we’ve done that for most of the year. We’ve been very consistent in that regard, and I am excited about this group. I’m excited to see how we handle these situations and these moments. I feel like our group is ready for everything that’s coming ahead.”

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Celtics Take '0-0' Mindset into Playoffs

Marc D'Amico

The Boston Celtics took the court Monday morning for their first postseason practice, which lasted more than two hours and included live scrimmage action with TD Garden sound effects being pumped in over the speaker system.

Meanwhile, as the players were grinding on the floor downstairs, their President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens, was upstairs making a rare appearance with the media.

Stevens spoke to the media for about 13 minutes while covering a long list of topics. One of the most interesting takeaways from the session is that Stevens actually appreciates the fact that some of his players lack deep playoff experience.

Yes, you read that correctly. Stevens likes the fact that not all of his players have made deep playoff runs. He actually used the term “naivety” while describing how the lack of experience can actually be a benefit to the team.

“Shoot, we’ve got Al Horford. He’s lived it as much as anybody, right? Jrue Holiday’s won and lived it,” Stevens said. “I value some of the guys that haven’t lived it as much, because they’ll bring a fresh naivety to it. I just think that there’s power in all of that.”

One key player who falls into that category is Boston’s starting center, Kristaps Porzingis. The 7-foot-2 big man has participated in the Playoffs just twice in his career, and he has never won a playoff series. As Stevens indicated, however, that can be a positive for Boston.

“Kristaps just hasn’t been as far or deep into that as some of our other guys,” said Stevens. “And again, I kinda think that’s a good thing at times, because you’re naïve in some ways, and this is something that you are so looking forward to if you haven’t been through it.”

That’s really a microcosm of Porzingis’ season in Boston. He joined a championship contender and elite organization for the first time this offseason and he immediately brought a fresh attitude to the group. After stepping into that environment with a dose of naivety, Porzingis put forth arguably the best season of his career. Boston is hoping that will continue into the postseason.

In addition to those comments, Stevens also for the first time publicly addressed the extension that Jrue Holiday signed with the team last week. Stevens said that the team wanted to extend the versatile point guard not only for is tangible skills, but also for what he brings to the organization off the court.

“Jrue came here, joined our team, and all he tried to do was add to winning,” Stevens said of the two-time All-Star. “And for a guy who is as accomplished as he is, that’s used to more usage, more reps, more touches, and all of those other things, that never even came into play. All that came into play was, ‘What kind of a teammate am I being, and how can I help us win?’”

Stevens continued, adding, “I think that as you look at a person like him and you think of the long-term of a group, you think obviously you need really good players and guys who can play on both ends of the court, but you also want people that the young players can look up to. And he is a person they should look up to, and certainly do look up to.”

One of those young players is big man Neemias Queta. He is a 24-year-old big man who was a two-way player with the Celtics throughout this season until Boston signed him to a standard contract On April 8. Stevens gave some insight not only as to why they upgraded Queta’s contract, but also as to why they structured it to include multiple years.

“Oftentimes with Neemi, he's been able to come in and really fill a role and keep our team at a high, high level,” Stevens said. “The likelihood of anybody you sign at that 15th spot playing huge minutes in a playoff run is probably pretty low, but he’s shown that he’s able to do that if surrounded by the right guys and in the right role.”

Stevens then commented on the terms of the Queta’s deal, saying, “With the contract that we signed, we think Neemi is more than just a right-now player. We think he’s a player that can help us in the future.”

The signing of Queta to a standard contract gives Boston an official rotation of four big men, including three 7-footers. That group is comprised of Horford, Porzingis, Queta and Luke Kornet.

Some fans were questioning that group heading into the season, not knowing if it was strong enough for the Celtics to compete for a title. Those fans can stand proudly, knowing that Stevens wasn’t quite sure about the group, either.

“If you would’ve asked me going into the year with our four bigs, maybe we were a little bit unproven,” he said.

But now, with the 82-game regular season complete and with Queta signed to a full deal? Both Stevens and the fans have their answers.

“By the middle of the year, I was like, ‘Damn, that’s a really good group. They can really play.’”

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Stevens Previews Playoffs, Comments on Holiday and Queta Deals

BOSTON – Derrick White has gone all-in on embracing Boston culture since his arrival to the Celtics two years ago. And what’s more Bostonian than starring in a commercial shoot for a renowned local brewery?

The commercial, shot as part of one of White’s personal endorsement deals, debuted Wednesday and soon went viral on social media. The Celtics guard said he thoroughly enjoyed himself on the set, and everything he learned throughout the shoot gave him an added appreciation for his adoptive city.

“There were some good people on the set, and it was a lot of fun," he described Friday afternoon following Celtics practice. "A lot of stuff that I didn’t know about Boston, and I really enjoyed it.”

The commercial starts off with him getting decked out in typical Boston attire: a Carhartt flannel fleece with a white T-shirt underneath, jeans, a backward cap, and Timberland boots. He’s joined by a companion in a matching outfit and the pair go “full Boston” by participating in some local pastimes.

First, they coin-scrape some scratch tickets on the hood of a parked car. White cynically ponders, “Do you ever win anything?” to which his new buddy retorts, “Not with that attitude.”

White is then taught the way of the Boston accent. The pair sit down and run through a list of words written on a whiteboard: “Parking, Garden, Worcester, and Billerica.”

The Colorado native later explained with a smile, “I told them before that I was practicing my Boston accent. Just looking in the mirror, simple techniques that I picked up over the years.”

White put the new accent to use in the next bit, which showed them dialing into a local sports radio station. As soon as White was “on the air,” his voice dropped down into a gruff Boston tone and he let it fly with, “I got some thoughts on how great Derrick White is…”

The next stop was a packie – at 11 a.m. White felt it was too early in the day for an adult beverage, so he opted for a non-alcoholic brewski. Surely the Celtics’ nutrition team approved this decision.

After they get their beverages, they make their way out to the parking lot to play some Beirut; White naturally sunk the ping pong ball into the cup from long range. Meanwhile, his friend explains that they can get 10 cents back per can if they return them to Maine – maybe on White’s next trip up to Portland when he visits his Maine Celtics pals.

They then transition back to the whiteboard where White’s friend teaches him a niche Boston phrase: “My stepdad Larry spent Ma’s Keno winnings at the horse track.”

The camera pans to a confused Derrick, who shrugs and says, “I don’t know what that means.” He later admitted, “I really did not know what that meant until that day.” You’re not alone, Derrick.

After wrapping up the outing with some trash-can hoops in the parking lot, White’s companion suggests, "Same time tomorrow?" White smartly replies, “I have a game, so… no.”

It wasn’t White’s first comedic commercial shoot, and it didn’t seem like it was based on how natural he was in the role. He even said that he improved some of his lines, “and just let it flow.”

He also got to take home a souvenir from the set.

“I got to keep the jacket, which is clutch,” said the C’s most efficient clutch player on the season. “That Carhartt was nice.”

However, the most beneficial part of the experience was getting the opportunity to embrace Boston culture further while connecting with local Celtics fans.

The experience affirmed what he already knew: “I love it here.”

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D-White’s Boston Pride Shines Through in Latest Commercial Shoot

BOSTON – One of the most common lull periods among NBA teams is right before and after the All-Star break. Such has been the opposite for the Boston Celtics, however; they’re playing their best basketball as they shift into the third trimester of the season and are showing no signs of slowing down.

Boston rolled into the break with six straight wins and then rolled out of it this past week with consecutive double-digit victories in Chicago and New York. Those eight straight dubs mark the longest win streak of the season for the Celtics, and it has them sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings with a 45-12 record and a comfortable, eight-game lead over the second-place Cleveland Cavaliers.

Joe Mazzulla believes his team’s ability to plow through the mundane portions of the regular season is a product of the culture the team has forged, which includes persistence and unwillingness to let their foot off the gas.

“It’s about the environment that we’ve created,” the coach said Monday afternoon upon returning to Boston for a three-game homestand. “When you have a bunch of guys like we do, I thought the way we went into the break was impressive, having a close win versus Brooklyn and doing what we did the night after, (a 50-point blowout win over the Nets again) on the second night of a back to back. But it’s everyone’s job, it’s not just mine; it’s the guys showing up every day, it’s taking advantage of the practice time, it’s being intentional about preparation, whether we have a shootaround or whether we have a long film session, so it’s not really on me. It’s on all of us to make sure we’re ready to go all the time.”

Of course, maintaining such a mindset is critical since this is not where the Celtics want to peak. Derrick White views this as a gradual buildup toward the postseason when they really need to be firing on all cylinders.

“We think we can just keep getting better,” said the veteran guard. “We know what the end goal is but we got 25 more games to keep playing our best basketball. We just take each opportunity as a challenge and every time we go out there we're competing and having fun doing what we do.”

They seem to be having fun during this winning stretch while dominating the opposition. Over the past eight games, the Celtics have a net rating of 18.7, meaning they’re outscoring their opponents by nearly 20 points per 100 possessions.

“I think we're all doing a good job just trying to be on the same page, especially in late-game when it’s probably more magnified," said White. "But throughout the game, we’re just trying to execute and get a good look each time or get a stop each time, and we're just gonna try to keep growing in that aspect.”

This next stretch will be a great test of their growth, as they’re set to face six consecutive opponents with winning records. Boston’s homestand will consist of games against Philadelphia, Dallas, and Golden State, respectively. Then, they’ll head on the road to take on Cleveland, Denver, and Phoenix as the first segment of a five-game trip.

“We have a month of March that’s playing really tough teams,” said Mazzulla. “It’s going to get difficult, we expect things to get difficult, and when they do, continue to use the tools that we’ve been working on.”

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C’s Rising at the Right Time Ahead of Arduous March Stretch

BOSTON – After Sunday night’s 40-point win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla praised Oshae Brissett's contributions and labeled him as one of the best offensive rebounders, if not the best, on the team.

Brissett has been committed to making such hustle plays whenever he’s on the court, which has helped to enable him to carve out a more consistent role in the middle third of the season.

Through the first 23 games, Brissett’s action was limited. He registered 14 DNPs during that time, including 11 over a 14-game span.

However, in the last 27 games, Brissett has logged only three DNPs plus one injury absence, as he’s settled into a far more consistent role.

As Mazzulla mentioned, Brissett’s presence on the offensive glass has been superb. His offensive rebounding percentage of 8.6 percent is more than double that of any non-big on the team. Payton Pritchard is the next closest at 4.2 percent.

&nbsp;The 6-foot-7 wing has logged at least one offensive rebound in 16 of his last 20 games, including nine of his last 10. That's pretty impressive considering how in nine of those 20 games, he’s played fewer than 10 minutes.

As a team, the Celtics have risen from 20th in the league in offensive rebounds per game last season to being tied for 10th this season, and Brissett has played a role in taking that leap.

With that being said, Brissett is starting to become more than just a hustle-play guy, as Mazzulla noted at Tuesday’s practice.

“He’s grown over the last week and a half in the recognition of offense, of matchup recognition, of how to impact our offense,” Mazzulla said. “The hard thing about him is he’s always playing with different lineups. Sometimes he plays with Luke (Kornet), sometimes he plays with Al (Horford), sometimes he plays with [Kristaps Porzingis]. But he’s done a great job of offensive rebounding. He’s done a great job of special awareness. He’s done a great job of executing our coverages defensively, and he always gives us a boost when he plays.”

Brissett has also given them a boost in terms of his scoring efficiency. &nbsp;Since Nov. 11, he has shot 52.6 percent from the field, including 35.7 percent from 3-point range. Prior to this season, his career field-goal percentage had been 41.2 percent.

“I just have to shoot it with confidence; that’s what Joe’s been telling me since the summertime,” Brissett said recently. “That’s something that started really in the summer when we went over our roles and how he views me as a player. Just going out there and doing what they want me to do. The reason they signed me was to rebound, defend, knock down open threes, and just be confident playing the game of basketball. So, that’s something we talk about a lot … It feels good having a coach that believes in me.”

Although Brissett’s role hasn’t been consistent the entire season, Mazzulla has believed in him from Day 1. The coach pointed out how Brissett’s energy during the home opener against Miami, when he grabbed three offensive rebounds in 14 minutes, was a major reason why they won that game.

“He’s done a great job,” Mazzulla said, “of earning the players’ trust, of earning the coaches’ trust, and just making winning plays.”