A fortnight ago, the challenge in the East was who was going to finish 2nd in the conference with the prospect, more than likely, of facing Brooklyn in the first round of the playoffs. It did not fail as the Nets dominated the play-in against Cleveland to reclaim the No. 7 seed tag. Clearly, falling on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the first round of the playoffs did not look like a present.
The question of avoiding this second place in the East had therefore arisen for the Bucks and for the Celtics, and it was necessary to watch their last matches.
As Ime Udoka’s men had the tiebreaker, they had to purposely lose a game more than the Bucks to finish in third place, and thus challenge the Bulls in the first round, a less worrying opponent on paper, since Chicago has almost never beaten the big teams this season.
Even if it’s easier to broach the subject after qualification, have the players and managers thought about it?
“IME set the tone on this subject, and it was cool that a coach involved us in this decision”raconte Jaylen Brown à The Athletic. “We all came to the conclusion that if you wanted to achieve something unique, shortcuts and calculations were not possible. Sometimes you have to take the most complicated path, or the one that seems the hardest. Ime led us in that direction, we agreed, we followed. »
“Our mentality is us against everyone”
The logic of the coach is simple: to win the title, you have to beat the best, at one time or another.
“We are not going to run away from anyone”warns Ime Udoka. “I know some people wanted to see us try to play against another team in the first round”adds Jayson Tatum. “Our mindset was that sooner or later we would probably have to face them. The road to the title is never easy. »
The clear and flawless qualification (4-0) against Kevin Durant and his gang proved the Celtics right.
The next opponent will surely be, barring an earthquake, the Bucks. Nothing less than the defending champions, and precisely the team that had avoided the Nets in the first round…
“We heard all that”laughs Marcus Smart, evoking the possible calculations. “We don’t dodge anyone. It’s part of the game. We know what we are capable of and what we want to achieve, regardless of the comments of each other. Our mentality is us against everyone. It suits us and we will keep it. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Jayson Tatum | 76 | 35.9 | 45.3 | 35.3 | 85.3 | 1.1 | 6.9 | 8.0 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 26.9 |
| Jaylen Brown | 66 | 33.6 | 47.3 | 35.8 | 75.8 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 23.6 |
| Dennis Schroder | 49 | 29.2 | 44.0 | 34.9 | 84.8 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 14.4 |
| Marcus Smart | 71 | 32.3 | 41.8 | 33.1 | 79.3 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 5.9 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 12.1 |
| Derrick White | 26 | 27.4 | 40.9 | 30.6 | 85.3 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 11.0 |
| Al Horford | 69 | 29.1 | 46.7 | 33.6 | 84.2 | 1.6 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 10.2 |
| Robert Williams | 61 | 29.6 | 73.6 | 0.0 | 72.2 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 9.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 10.0 |
| Josh Richardson | 44 | 24.7 | 44.3 | 39.7 | 85.9 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 9.7 |
| Daniel Theis | 21 | 18.7 | 59.8 | 35.7 | 68.8 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 7.9 |
| Grant Williams | 77 | 24.4 | 47.5 | 41.1 | 90.5 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 7.8 |
| Payton Pritchard | 71 | 14.1 | 42.9 | 41.2 | 100.0 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 6.2 |
| Romeo Langford | 44 | 16.6 | 42.9 | 34.9 | 58.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 4.7 |
| Jabari Parker | 12 | 9.4 | 47.4 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| Aaron Nesmith | 52 | 11.0 | 39.6 | 27.0 | 80.8 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Enes Freedom | 35 | 11.8 | 52.6 | 40.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 3.7 |
| Matt Ryan | 1 | 5.2 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 26 | 6.1 | 46.0 | 43.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 |
| Luke Kornet | 12 | 7.1 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 2.2 |
| Joe Johnson | 1 | 1.9 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Justin Jackson | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Malik Fitts | 8 | 3.5 | 60.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| Brodric Thomas | 12 | 5.0 | 44.4 | 22.2 | 60.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Nick Stauskas | 6 | 2.5 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 18 | 5.3 | 18.5 | 16.7 | 66.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Bruno Fernando | 20 | 2.9 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Juwan Morgan | 1 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Kelan Martin | 3 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| cj miles | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |