The Boston Celtics kicked off their 2025 playoff marketing campaign with a commanding 103-86 victory over the Orlando Magic in Sport 1.
Regardless of an off-night from their superstars, the Boston Celtics displayed their championship pedigree by way of distinctive crew play on each ends of the court docket.
Celtics legend Paul Pierce highlighted this because the defining trait that separates Boston from different contenders–their capability to win collectively when particular person stars aren’t at their greatest.
In a phase for FS1’s Converse, Pierce defined: “Now that’s a crew that has room for error, when your stars don’t play effectively.
“Take into consideration this, Jayson Tatum had 17 factors – went one for eight, Brown had 16 and Porzingis, what did he have? 5. And we nonetheless win by 17 factors,” Pierce defined on the Converse Present.
“What I noticed from this sport is a crew that is aware of they’re actually good as a result of they didn’t play significantly effectively within the first half, and within the second half, you’ll be able to see they pressed the button.”
“We used to say, ‘It’s time to press the button.’ That’s after we upped our depth, the protection would step up, and we all know we will push the lead. That’s what I noticed from Boston yesterday,” the previous Finals MVP continued.
As Pierce stated, what makes this win significantly spectacular is how the Celtics dominated regardless of subpar performances from their high gamers.
Kristaps Porzingis managed simply 5 factors, whereas Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum mixed for just one made three-pointer between them.
However Pierce did say that the Celtics must hold their stars scorching on the court docket in the event that they wish to go far on this season’s playoffs.
“On any given evening, completely different gamers can step up when their stars don’t play effectively. Can they get again to the finals like this? No, the celebrities have to point out up. Within the first spherical, they will get away with it.”
This collective method might be much more essential for Sport 2, as Tatum’s standing stays questionable after struggling a bone bruise in his proper wrist from a tough fall within the fourth quarter.
Listed as day-to-day, Tatum’s potential absence can be a big blow, additional testing Boston’s championship-level depth and resilience.
The Celtics actually need to convey the identical power they’d in sport one, once they solely had 9 turnovers and nailed 43.2% of their three-pointers.
On defence, additionally they efficiently stored the Magic to simply 37% from downtown.