BOSTON — The Celtics returned to action at TD Garden just 24 hours after the Bruins underwent a gut-wrenching defeat in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers, putting an end to their record-shattering run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
With the Philadelphia 76ers in town for the start of their Eastern Conference semifinal round with the Celtics, head coach Joe Mazzulla believes there’s plenty to learn from watching the Bruins fall after assembling the single-best regular season in NHL history.
“You can learn from anything,” Mazzulla said. “I think what I paid attention to was what they put into it, how hard they played.”
While the C’s weren’t nearly in contention for etching their names in the NBA history books through the first 82 games, they’re definitely in a similar place to that of the Bruins. Coming off an NBA Finals appearance with a healthy and improved roster, there’s an existent pressure factor in place for Mazzulla, who’s also a first-year head coach like Jim Montgomery.
Plus without the presence of 76ers stud Joel Embiid to start, who is recovering from a knee injury, the Celtics don’t have a whole lot of leeway for failure. The C’s already took the regular-season series, 3-1, with Embiid healthy for Philadelphia.
“You try to just pick things from anything to learn from when you watch a group of guys trying to achieve greatness,” Mazzulla explained.
Nevertheless, it’s the NBA playoffs and anything can happen, which Boston nearly discovered in an unfriendly fashion against the Atlanta Hawks in Round 1.
