The Boston Celtics continue to cruise as the best team in the NBA; despite being without Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford during their Monday night contest against the Detroit Pistons, the Celtics handily took care of business, claiming a 109-94 victory to boost their league-leading record to 54-14.
At this point, all the Celtics need to do is stay the course, what with there being a little over a month to go before the postseason begins. Head coach Joe Mazzulla is confident that they can do so. After all, Mazzulla knows that it doesn't take too much effort to get the Celtics to give their best on the hardwood.
“They're self-motivated… The greatest strength of this team is the locker room… I don't have to do anything to motivate them. They do it on their own,” Mazzulla said, per Jack Simone of SB Nation's Celtics Blog.
Indeed, the Celtics have a core of battle-tested veterans who knows what it takes to not just win, but win big in the NBA. Even the team's best players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, despite being 26 and 27 years old, respectively, have been through plenty of adversity in their careers.
Alas, the challenge for the Celtics is to maintain their high level of play in the final few weeks of the regular season. This is not always an easy task, especially for a team that has been so dominant that they can afford to ease their foot off the gas pedal. But for Joe Mazzulla, the players' togetherness and ability to stay ready no matter what makes this challenge that much easier to overcome.
“The challenge is easier because the guys play hard, they work hard, they're smart, and they work hard on their craft… You know what you're getting, no matter who is in the game. So, that's a credit to them,” Mazzulla added.
After the easiest back-to-back possible (the Celtics recently defeated the Pistons and Washington Wizards, owners of the two worst records in the NBA), Boston will have an interesting challenge ahead of them when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.
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