With only a few weeks left in the regular season, it’s officially crunch time for the Boston Celtics.
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After watching the New York Knicks tie them for second place in the Eastern Conference standings on Tuesday, the Celtics kick off a critical stretch on Wednesday with a massive home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After facing the defending NBA champs, they wrap up their homestand against the Atlanta Hawks before heading out on a four-game road trip against the Charlotte Hornets, Hawks, Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks.
Boston has no margin for error and must play well during this stretch if it wants to maintain control of the two seed.
On Tuesday, Joe Mazzulla told Celtics reporter Bobby Krivitsky what he hopes to see from his team during this pivotal stretch.
“I think regardless of who you’re playing against, the process of winning is the most important thing,” Mazzulla said. “We’ve won games, and we don’t spend too much time worrying about the win. We spend time worrying about the things that we did well and the things that we have to get better at, that could have cost us the game if certain plays didn’t go our way.”
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Coming off a frustrating home loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night, Mazzulla wants to see Boston learn from its mistakes and play cleaner basketball going forward.
“Last game…there’s 15 possessions, probably eight of them in the third quarter on our transition defense that we need to get better at. We have to bring those possessions into tomorrow’s game and continue to get better at,” Mazzulla added. “So, just those things that impact winning, those details, those margins, especially against teams that are really good, it’s the most important thing you have to do.”
The Celtics have played great basketball all year, so they just need to stay focused, keep their foot on the gas and maintain their high attention to detail.
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