NEW YORK — The Celtics entered Wednesday night’s game against the Nets in Brooklyn 2-2 in their last four games. It was hardly a troubling stretch given the results, but the overall play was inconsistent. Both losses came at TD Garden, where Boston lost just four times last regular season.
The Celtics lost to the Warriors, then fell behind, 16-2, to the Nets and Bucks and needed overtime to survive against Brooklyn. Then on Tuesday, they lost to an average Hawks team that was missing leading scorer Trae Young. Coach Joe Mazzulla said his team has mostly played well, but he acknowledged there is space for the Celtics to be at their best more often.
“Every year is new and you’ve got to redevelop the habits, redevelop the discipline, redevelop the mentality,” Mazzulla said. “So, just consistency. We’ve had moments where it’s been great and we’ve had moments where we can get better. So the key is trying to be as consistent as possible.
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“We’ve shown what we can be at our best and then we’ve shown what it looks like when we’re not at our best. So the best teams can get to that, can get to their best quickly and then stay there longer than everybody else. So that’s the goal is just being consistent in the habits we’ve shown at moments thus far.”
After the Hawks gobbled up 20 offensive rebounds and forced 20 turnovers on Tuesday, Mazzulla stressed that the Celtics did not match Atlanta’s physicality. On Wednesday, he said there has been an uptick in physical play around the NBA over the first month of this season.
“Much more physicality,” he said.
Now, Mazzulla said, the onus is on the Celtics to raise their level, too. Which they did with Wednesday night’s 139-114 win over the Nets.
“Just being comfortable fighting for your space on the offensive end, setting great screens,” he said. “Defensively, not letting guys get to the spot they want and making them fight for space. There’s been moments where we’ve done it, and there’s moments we just have to get better.”
The answer is …
Mazzulla’s love for the 2010 thriller “The Town” landed him in a “Jeopardy!” clue on Tuesday night. In the “heist movies” category, the clue read: “Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has admitted to watching this heist film directed by Ben Affleck several times a week.”
Mazzulla has said that when he was a Celtics assistant, “The Town” was in his rotation of films that he would turn on in the background while editing game film. On Wednesday, Mazzulla was predictably unmoved by being mentioned on one of the world’s most popular game shows.
“I could care less,” he said.
Hard work pays off
Nets first-year coach Jordi Fernandez was an assistant with the Kings when Celtics center Nehemiah Queta played for the team in 2022-23, and Fernandez said he has been pleased to see the big man’s growth over the past few years.
“At that time we all really liked him,” Fernandez said. “He was on a two-way [contract] and he did an amazing job. He was the defensive player of the year in the G League. When players go through every step and really take it seriously and work really hard, they usually get rewarded. And now, he’s a legit NBA player, so I was very happy to go through those steps with him.”
With Al Horford sitting out to rest Wednesday, Queta started his third game of the season. He had 8 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block in 21 minutes.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
