After a busy start to the season, the Boston Celtics haven’t had much to do lately with the NBA Cup going on. The Celtics played just one game last week, losing 116-101 to the Milwaukee Bucks on the road despite the Bucks not having Giannis Antetokounmpo.
After three days off, Boston returns to the court on Monday to host the Detroit Pistons. The Celtics then get three more days off before hosting the Miami Heat on Friday, concluding an 11-day stretch where they played just two games.
Such a lull in the schedule is unusual outside of the All-Star Break, but it’s a needed and well-deserved one for Boston. The Celtics have had one of the hardest schedules in the NBA thus far but have played well in spite of it, going 15-10 with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and the league’s sixth-best net rating.
Before Monday’s game against the Pistons, Derrick White spoke to the media about the recent time off and how Boston has handled it.
“Sitting around yesterday. We haven’t played much lately, so that’s kind of different, especially during the season,” White said. “Been definitely different having all this time off. Obviously, it’s good for recovery and stuff, and then we got some really good practices in as well. So definitely some pros and cons to it all.”
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Joe Mazzulla has pushed his players hard in Jayson Tatum’s absence, taking every game seriously. Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons and Sam Hauser have played every game this year, while Jaylen Brown and White have missed only one game apiece and Neemias Queta has missed just two.
That’s the benefit of having a younger roster, but the Celtics also can’t afford to take games off if they want to make the playoffs. Hopefully the time off gave them a chance to recharge and helps them maintain their impressive start going forward.
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