The Boston Celtics couldn’t completely control their NBA Cup destiny, but that didn’t stop head coach Joe Mazzulla from pulling out all the stops Friday night.
Boston, ironically enough, met the Chicago Bulls nearly a calendar year after Mazzulla broke the unwritten rules of basketball and hacked Andre Drummond to intentionally send him to the free-throw line. With another need for point differential in the tournament standings, the Celtics — in perfect déjà vu fashion — reached into Mazzulla’s sinful playbook with the game already decided in Boston’s 138-129 win over Chicago.
“One, it’s the point differential so you wanna exhaust as much as you can,” Mazzulla said, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “But I like it because this tournament and the point differential kind of eliminates all the unwritten rules that you’re supposed to follow or not follow where in a normal situation you wouldn’t do that. In this one, you get to look at in need and you get to draw up a play to get better in that situation. Guys did a good job of executing and we tried to extend the point differential as much as we could.”
The stipulations created after the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers hours earlier sparked a confusing domino effect for the Celtics and their NBA Cup chances. Boston, first of all, needed to beat the Bulls and also needed to aim at running up the score differential like prime Russell Westbrook stat-padding for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That opportunity presented itself in the last second — literally.
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Mazzulla called a timeout with 1.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, already ahead 135-129, and drew up a play to get a final shot up. Sam Hauser, the recipient of Jayson Tatum’s inbound, drilled a Hail Mary 3-pointer from the corner. The buzzer-beater turned Boston’s six-point win into a nine-point win, pushing the Celtics to a plus-23 point differential with a 3-1 NBA Cup record.
It wasn’t a traditional last-second situation, but one carried out (chef’s kiss) perfectly.
“I think they enjoy it,” Mazzulla said, per NBC Sports Boston. “It adds a little life to the game at the regular season. So, I know Same likes any time he can get a shot up.”
The Celtics are in need of some assistance across the league and will wait patiently for the results of two key matchups in the Eastern Conference: the Milwaukee Bucks versus the Detroit Pistons and the Orlando Magic versus the New York Knicks. That provides the opportunity for a few scenarios that could book Boston’s ticket to Las Vegas.
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If the Bucks defeat the Pistons by six or more points, or if Detroit defeats Milwaukee by seven or more points, and if the Magic defeat the Knicks outright, or if New York crushes Orlando by 38-plus points, the Celtics will advance to the knockout round.
In simpler terms, Boston should root for everyone except New York.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
