Ime Udoka wants the Celtics to be a tough, hard-nosed basketball team, but Boston certainly didn't look the part over the course of its recent West Coast trip.
The C's frequently let the opposition outmuscle them in the early-December trip, which played a big hand in Boston posting a 1-4 record in the five-game span. So before the Celtics played their first game back at TD Garden, Udoka wanted to straighten a few things out.
As the first-year head coach revealed after Monday night's matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, physicality was a point of emphasis in his team's recent animated film session.
"We didn't like some of our lack of physicality," Udoka told reporters, per The Boston Globe. "We talked about that and I said 'I'd rather you guys put somebody on their ass or get into it with somebody than let guys waltz down the lane.' We knew Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and other guys were going to be aggressive tonight and we needed to fight back and get back to who we were at the start of the year and I welcome that."
The C's answered the bell in their win over the Bucks, limiting Antetokounmpo to 20 points. The 103 points Milwaukee scored as a team also were the fewest Boston allowed since Dec. 1.
Boston isn't going to be able to regularly win track meets and shootouts. It simply isn't talented enough on the offensive end. So if the Celtics want to be a playoff team this season, they probably should lean into the grittiness.
