The Boston Celtics couldn’t utterly management their NBA Cup future, however that didn’t cease head coach Joe Mazzulla from pulling out all of the stops Friday evening.
Boston, mockingly sufficient, met the Chicago Bulls almost a calendar yr after Mazzulla broke the unwritten guidelines of basketball and hacked Andre Drummond to deliberately ship him to the free-throw line. With one other want for level differential within the event standings, the Celtics — in good déjà vu style — reached into Mazzulla’s sinful playbook with the sport already determined in Boston’s 138-129 win over Chicago.
“One, it’s the purpose differential so that you wanna exhaust as a lot as you may,” Mazzulla mentioned, as seen on NBC Sports activities Boston’s postgame protection. “However I prefer it as a result of this event and the purpose differential type of eliminates all of the unwritten guidelines that you just’re alleged to comply with or not comply with the place in a standard state of affairs you wouldn’t do this. On this one, you get to take a look at in want and also you get to attract up a play to get higher in that state of affairs. Guys did job of executing and we tried to increase the purpose differential as a lot as we may.”
The stipulations created after the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers hours earlier sparked a complicated domino impact for the Celtics and their NBA Cup possibilities. Boston, to start with, wanted to beat the Bulls and in addition wanted to goal at working up the rating differential like prime Russell Westbrook stat-padding for the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.
That chance introduced itself within the final second — actually.
Story continues under commercial
Mazzulla known as a timeout with 1.4 seconds remaining within the fourth quarter, already forward 135-129, and drew up a play to get a remaining shot up. Sam Hauser, the recipient of Jayson Tatum’s inbound, drilled a Hail Mary 3-pointer from the nook. The buzzer-beater turned Boston’s six-point win right into a nine-point win, pushing the Celtics to a plus-23 level differential with a 3-1 NBA Cup document.
It wasn’t a standard last-second state of affairs, however one carried out (chef’s kiss) completely.
“I believe they get pleasure from it,” Mazzulla mentioned, per NBC Sports activities Boston. “It provides a bit life to the sport on the common season. So, I do know Identical likes any time he can get a shot up.”
The Celtics are in want of some help throughout the league and can wait patiently for the outcomes of two key matchups within the Jap Convention: the Milwaukee Bucks versus the Detroit Pistons and the Orlando Magic versus the New York Knicks. That gives the chance for just a few eventualities that would guide Boston’s ticket to Las Vegas.
Story continues under commercial
If the Bucks defeat the Pistons by six or extra factors, or if Detroit defeats Milwaukee by seven or extra factors, and if the Magic defeat the Knicks outright, or if New York crushes Orlando by 38-plus factors, the Celtics will advance to the knockout spherical.
In less complicated phrases, Boston ought to root for everybody besides New York.
