Several Celtics Made This Late-Game Request To Joe Mazzulla

Every Celtics player who took the floor Monday night at FedExForum was willing and eager to take on one of the NBA’s more difficult challenges.

Boston kicked off its week by traveling to Memphis to battle a hot Grizzlies team that’s led by one of the league’s most dynamic offensive players, Ja Morant. Morant, as he does to virtually every team he plays, gave the Celtics plenty of trouble to the tune of 27 points on the evening as the game shifted to the fourth quarter.

But Boston buckled down in crunch time and effectively silenced Morant in the final frame, limiting the superstar guard to only three points on 1-of-6 shooting in the fourth. It wasn’t just poor shooting that subdued Morant late in the game either, as the Celtics blocked two of his shots in the final quarter.

Asked after the game if it was Jayson Tatum who wanted to be the primary Morant defender as the contest wound down, Boston interim head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed the three-time All-Star was one of many who wanted the assignment.

“Our whole team asked to,” Mazzulla told reporters after the Celtics’ 109-106 win, per MassLive.

While Boston can give the opposition a headache in a variety of ways offensively, defense is the real backbone of this team. The reigning Eastern Conference champions had been kind of lazy on that end of the floor in recent games, but Monday night’s outing suggested the Celtics are getting back to the ways that helped them reach the NBA Finals last season.

Boston will try to extend its win streak to four Wednesday night when it hosts the Detroit Pistons.