Celtics Cautious With Good ‘Feeling’ Entering NBA All-Star Break

BOSTON — The Celtics crushed the first phase of their ambitious 2023-24 run, finishing an NBA-best 43-12 heading into the All-Star break with plenty to be proud of although the team doesn’t plan on getting ahead of itself.

It’s easy to get content on the momentum from leading the NBA in the most important category (wins), however, as the Celtics discovered in the playoffs last season, the first 82 games only mean so much. After stomping down on the Brooklyn Nets in a 136-86 win on Wednesday night before getting a full week off, the dangers of getting too caught up in the record-flirting success and pat-on-the-back narratives were again emphasized.

“We can’t operate by feeling,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said postgame. “Regardless of if we lost tonight, and won five out of six or won six out of six, you know you have a tendency to relax, you have a tendency to put it in cruise control. So winning is just as dangerous as losing if you don’t handle it the right way. (The break) is more about guys reconnecting with their families, taking care of their bodies and enjoying their time off. I think that’s important for guys to be able to do, but when we come back, we gotta reconnect and re-establish what we’re doing.”

Before the Celtics and Nets tipped off at TD Garden, Mazzulla mentioned that he’ll use the time off to focus on one thing: improving. By using game footage and a list of “10 to 12 things,” Mazzulla plans to identify what areas the team could improve on throughout the remaining 27 games before the playoffs.

Sam Hauser at the buzzer 🎯 pic.twitter.com/mAM7nQkByc

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) February 15, 2024

The ongoing theme that’s been attached to the new-look Celtics — Banner 18 over all else — constantly makes itself known on a night-to-night basis, whether that’d be through Mazzulla’s postgame commentary or the team’s crystal clear buy-in commitment.

Boston won its final six games consecutively and averaged 125.5 points. That was fresh off the most concerning loss of the season, against the Los Angeles Lakers without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, which signaled an ability to identify losses that shouldn’t happen and respond — a key characteristic for any championship team, especially the Celtics, to instill.

With that, the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat would’ve been dealt with appropriately in last season’s playoffs.

The Celtics took on a down-on-its-luck Nets team with Jaylen Brown inactive and made ridiculously easy work of Brooklyn. For the entire fourth quarter, Mazzulla sat the starters, yet the reserve unit still outscored the Nets, 35-31, shooting 12-of-19 from the floor.

“We came out and right away we just put our foot on the gas and didn’t let up, we played great defense, great communication,” Kristaps Porzingis, who pitched in 15 points, explained. “It maybe made the game a little bit boring for the fans because we went up (by) so many points early on, but I think the fans have to appreciate that kind of game also; we’re just stepping on those guys and not letting up.”

Porzingis added: “I just love being here so much. It’s unreal.”

Off the bench, guard Payton Pritchard scored a game-high 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting, knocking down six threes while collecting four rebounds and dishing out three assists. Everyone that played finished with a positive plus-minus and even more importantly, the Celtics committed only eight turnovers — two were from final-second shot clock violations in the fourth.

The depth, efficiency, and overall ability to blowout an opponent by 50 points was on full display, not for the first — and likely not the last — time this season.