Joe Mazzulla Highlights Celtics’ Bench Production In Blowout Win

The Boston Celtics have been truly dominant to start the new NBA season, advancing to 4-0 with a blowout 155-104 win over the Indiana Pacers.

The new starting lineup of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and the new additions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis has excelled as a unit on both ends of the floor.

Through the first three games, the one area of concern had been the limited production of Boston’s bench. In that span, the Celtics’ non-starters combined to score just 34 points. That changed on Wednesday with a major improvement, led by 17 points from Sam Hauser and 15 points from Payton Pritchard.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla noted the importance of the group’s improvement.

“They were organized,” Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “They got to their spots faster. I thought Payton did a good job organizing (plus) Dalano (Banton). They got to their spacing. They ran plays for Sam. All those guys. Luke (Kornet), Lamar (Stevens), Oshae Brissett, all those guys, and Svi Mykhailiuk. I just thought we played with more of a sense of purpose. They managed the game in that way. There’s certain things that you can do to put yourself in a better situation. Play without fouling, limiting them to one shot, it’s not giving up transition. Those are the three things that they did in the Washington game and those are the three things they did a great job of taking away in this game.”

As a unit, the Celtics benefited from 63 points off the bench, which comes with the context in 46 of those coming in the fourth quarter as Boston rested their starters with the game well taken care of.

Regardless, the Celtics have to have contributions from the bench to reach championship potential. On Wednesday night, they got just that.

Boston looks to move to 5-0 on Saturday night in a visit with the Brooklyn Nets.