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On Friday evening, the Boston Celtics have been clobbered by the Orlando Magic, struggling their worst lack of the season and getting wholly outmatched bodily each on the glass and usually.
On Sunday evening, they righted their wrongs.
The Celtics got here out hungry towards an Atlanta Hawks crew with the second-best offense within the league that can be top-five in offensive rebounding and top-12 in rebounding total.
Following their ugly loss on Sunday, nevertheless, the Celtics made it a degree to swarm the glass—a degree of emphasis that was misplaced over the previous few video games.
“You strive, particularly within the first 25 video games, to get nice at a bunch of issues, and also you emphasize them,” head coach Joe Mazzulla stated. “And so, as you undergo the season, [you say] that is vital for this stretch of video games. That is vital. What are you able to cling on to all through your complete 12 months?
“And so, I assumed perhaps, as a employees, we didn’t emphasize them sufficient. And so at present, that was one of many huge keys for us was, ‘can we get again to our nook crashing?’ And our guys did an incredible job of executing.”
Boston grabbed a season-high 18 offensive rebounds towards the Hawks, contributing to a season-high 58 rebounds total and resulting in a 113-103 victory.
Al Horford led the way in which with 15 boards, however proper behind him was two-way participant Neemias Queta, who made his second look of his Celtics profession on Sunday evening.
Queta performed 15:09 off the bench for Boston, however in his restricted minutes, he made positive to make a big-time affect.
“I assumed Queta simply did an excellent job in his rim safety and on the offensive finish, simply type of making the sport nasty,” Mazzulla stated.
The Portuguese huge man completed the sport with seven factors and 10 rebounds, together with six offensive boards. A few of these got here because of his personal misses, as he shot simply 3-for-8, however his hustle shined by way of on each possession.
“That’s slightly little bit of what I deliver to the desk,” Queta said after the win over Atlanta. “Being an offensive rebounder. With the ability to crash or appeal to a second defender on the offensive glass. I really feel prefer it’s simply a kind of issues I might help with. With all of those guys, all of us emphasize crashing, so it’s coming alongside rather well for us. We received to maintain going.”
Because the Celtics regarded to enhance upon their areas of wrestle within the Magic recreation, Queta supplied a pleasant increase. His evening was highlighted by two performs: An and-one he earned after an offensive rebound and one other hustle board, after which he threw the ball off of Onyeka Okongwu’s foot to maintain possession.
“He was a giant for us tonight,” Jayson Tatum stated. “Such as you stated, simply the vitality that he introduced off the bench. I give a number of credit score to these guys within the stay-ready group. They work their butts off, and it’s robust not figuring out when your quantity goes to get referred to as however simply having to be ready when it does, and tonight, he helped us win the sport.”
A nagging foot harm delayed Queta’s begin to the season after a powerful run in coaching camp, throughout which Mazzulla famous he was incomes extra alternatives, however he appears to be again and able to contribute after spending a stint with the Maine Celtics.
“I really feel like going again to the G helped me get again right into a rhythm,” Queta stated. “Getting a few minutes, a few video games beneath my belt. Fairly shut video games, too. I really feel prefer it was the most effective choice for me to get again into form and in a rhythm.”
Queta’s rebounding efforts performed an enormous half within the Celtics’ win, however he wasn’t the one one emphasizing that a part of the sport.
Horford snagged three offensive boards, and Dalano Banton, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser all grabbed two. Outdoors of Payton Pritchard, each participant who stepped foot on the court docket for the Celtics on Sunday had not less than one offensive rebound.
Boston was crashing from each corners on almost each possession, they usually managed to do an entire 180 after their worst lack of the season on Friday afternoon.
Over the course of an 82-game season, mindsets will slip. Groups will undergo tough patches and fail to execute on gameplans that had been beforehand set. What’s vital is responding shortly. And after a tough week on the glass, that’s precisely what the Celtics did.
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