It would be hard for an NBA team to play more differently from one game to the next than the Boston Celtics did against the Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks this week, but the improved play vs. the Bucks compared to Boston’s flop against Washington was something on the mind of star Celtics forward Jayson Tatum postgame.
“We responded well from the jump,” said Tatum via CLNS Media. “I think we had a sense of urgency about us from the beginning.”
That contrasted sharply with the revolving door defense Boston deployed against the Wizards, though Tatum seemed to credit a bit of luck in the Milwaukee win as well.
“Honestly, we just shot the ball better than we did that game. That played a huge part,” he explained.
“I think the game honors (you) when you play the right way, when you approach it the right way, and that’s what we did tonight, regardless of who we were playing.”
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“Last game was a bad loss, and we came in more locked in, more focused, and played better,” he added in something of a colossal understatement.
The Celtics play the Utah Jazz on Friday night, but there likely will not be much in the way of a test to see if Boston can keep up that focus. The Jazz have multiple players listed as out or questionable.
But you had to have liked what you saw as a fan against Milwaukee — the burning question in all of our minds is whether the Celtics can play that way consistently when the postseason finally arrives.
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