BOSTON – The Boston Celtics began to turn their momentum in a positive direction Wednesday night while earning a 115-93 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at TD Garden to snap a three-game losing streak. Now, the C’s hope to carry that energy with them on the road over the next two weeks, as they set out on a season-long-tying six-game trip.
The team’s travels will take them from Atlanta to Houston, to Minnesota, to Portland, to Utah, and finally to Sacramento, before returning home on March 22.
Those half-dozen games will make up 40 percent of Boston’s remaining regular-season schedule, and Marcus Smart says it will be a pivotal stretch for the team to unite and get rolling before heading into the playoffs.
“There aren't that many regular season games left, and this thing is getting ready to get off to the races,” Smart said Thursday afternoon during his team’s final practice before heading down to Georgia. “We need to come together, and we need to start acting like this is it for us, that every game matters and we get into that rhythm.”
Smart knows from experience that such long trips can be beneficial from a bonding perspective, which has added importance this late in the season. If they can come home with some solid wins under their belt, that would improve morale even more.
“I think that’s just gonna help us continue to be closer,” said Smart. “Especially when things aren't going your way, it’s a chance to follow the person to your left and to your right – these fellas that have been in here every day, working. We have to continue to trust one another and have our confidence go through the roof by helping and supporting each other.”
Joe Mazzulla has seen such collective support throughout the season, even during the team’s recent rough patch.
“I trust the locker room,” said the C’s head coach. “We have a lot of experienced guys. I think we have great poise. I think the perspective that our guys have, to understand that the adversity is just part of it, like, it just happens. How you handle it is more important. So I think our guys do a great job of handling it together.”
Mazzulla wants them to handle this road trip by continuing to build on their awareness, execution, and overall game management, all of which he thought were “solid” during Wednesday night’s win.
One of the promising signs from the Portland matchup was that when Boston built a big lead, it maintained it, unlike the three double-digit advantages it coughed up during its losing spell.
Jaylen Brown wants to see more of that over the next several games: throw the first punch and keep swinging away.
“We’ve gotta come out with urgency and can't expect teams to just give us games,” said Brown. “All these teams we're looking to play are looking to beat us, and we gotta play like that.”
Added Smart, “It's just about focusing on us. We're going out to play some good teams (on this trip), and we need these wins.”