Celtics' Joe Mazzulla, Jayson Tatum Could be Downplaying Recent Struggles
The Boston Celtics are the second in the Eastern Conference. They have been second for most of the season behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been pursuing history.
Boston has a three-and-a-half-game lead over the Knicks for the second spot in the East. Despite this, they have played some up-and-down basketball.
They are 2-2 in their last four games and almost lost to the worst team in the NBA, the New Orleans Pelicans. They only won that game by a single point.
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The Celtics are trying to downplay any notion that they are truly struggling right now. After scraping by to beat New Orleans, Jayson Tatum and head coach Joe Mazzulla had some things to say about the current state of the team.
“Maybe you don’t want to play your best basketball at the beginning of January,” Jayson Tatum said. “We’ve been through this before. We’ve still got a lot of time left to get back to our identity. It’s not supposed to be easy and we’re getting everybody’s best shot. New Orleans played really well. I don’t think they played like that all the time. But it was a good test for us. That’s just how it’s going to be.”
Tatum clearly wants the team to play their best basketball in April instead of the start of the new year. He doesn't seem concerned about how they are playing right now.
His coach echoed a similar sentiment.
“Every season is different, our journey [also]‚” Mazzulla said. “With that being said, if you take a look at the perspective, there are things that we’re doing well. Most important is winning the game and making the necessary plays even when things aren’t going well. Every season brings on different challenges. Every season brings on different opportunities and the situation we’re in right now, we’ve got to just fight through it.”
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Boston knows that they probably won't catch Cleveland for the top seed in the East. Their main goal is to stay ahead of the rest of the league for second.
As long as the Celtics are able to stay ahead of the Knicks, they feel good about it. They will have home-court advantage over everyone else except Cleveland, and they feel great about their odds against them.
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