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On this march (and April) to the playoffs, head coach Joe Mazzulla has been checking gadgets off his to-do listing.
At the beginning has been the assimilation of Jayson Tatum again into the rotation. It hasn’t precisely been seamless. There’s been the anticipated rust and acclimation to the pace and timing of the NBA sport. He’s needed to get his legs beneath him and after fourteen video games, he’s beginning to seem like he’s acquired his fast twitch again.
Second, Brown’s sport has shifted barely to extra scoring and fewer playmaking along with his partner-in-crime again into the fold. Throughout his Participant of the Week marketing campaign, he averaged he averaged 31 factors, 5.5 rebounds, and (nonetheless getting his teammates concerned with) 5.8 assists.
Third, Mazzulla has additionally trimmed the rotation. Earlier than Tatum’s return, the Celtics routinely went ten-deep. However with all people again and the harm listing clear, Boston has gone to an 8-to-9-man depth chart:
Now, with Nikola Vucevic again from a fractured finger that has had him out since Tatum’s return, will something change? On Sunday, Vucevic changed Garza in these backup huge minutes. We’ve additionally seen Hugo Gonzalez successfully phased out during the last two weeks.
In a seven-game sequence, groups will systematically take issues away and drive groups to do one thing totally different. One of many advantages of this “hole yr” has been getting intel for each participant, from Jaylen Brown all the best way right down to Ron Harper Jr. who simply signed a typical contract to be eligible for the playoffs. So, come Recreation 4, 5, 6, and even 7, Mazzulla might throw an surprising curveball — or shall we embrace “uneXpected?”
X-factors have littered the Celtics long-storied historical past. Danny Ainge dusted off a retired P.J. Brown to hitch the 2008 run. The aptly named Xavier Tillman helped put Dallas on the brink in simply twelve minutes in Recreation 3 of the Finals. All through the common season, we’ve seen practically each participant both begin or make an affect on the bench, so who’s your favourite x-factor heading into April, Could, and June?
