For the Boston Celtics, Thursday’s win began Wednesday afternoon.
Boston held a session at their practice facility on Wednesday for the first time since Jan. 28. They worked on their game, both on the court and in the film room, for more than two hours. It paid off.
The C’s came into Thursday’s game against Milwaukee and looked like a completely different team compared to the one that flew home from their recent road trip. On this night, they looked like the team that had gone 32-23 prior to the All-Star break.
Jae Crowder scored the first points of the game on a driving, and-one layup and the Celtics never looked back from that point on (although, to Milwaukee’s credit, it made a very late charge). They jumped out to a 9-2 lead less than 90 seconds into the game thanks to inspired defense and aggressive offense.
Boston made it a point to get to the cup early on, which led to it scoring 20 of its first 26 points in the paint. Simply put, the C’s broke Milwaukee’s defense down, and they made it look easy.
Their defensive intensity matched that of their offense. While Milwaukee did score 52 first-half points, it needed 46 shots to get there. The Bucks shot only 41.3 percent from the field during the first half while committing nine turnovers.
There was no scoreboard in use at Wednesday’s practice. The Bucks weren’t there, either. Yet that session undoubtedly set the table for Thursday’s 112-107 win.
Isaiah Thomas did work down the stretch for Boston, but when Amir Johnson plays the way he did Thursday night, the man deserves some love. He did everything the Boston Celtics could have asked him to do.
Rebound? Yep, he did it. And he did it with style.
Johnson put home three putback slams off of his teammates’ misses during the first quarter. He was all over the glass early on, setting the tone for the Celtics in that aspect of the game. He finished with eight rebounds, including three at the offensive end.
Scoring? Yeah, he did that too.
Those aforementioned putback dunks accounted for six points, and he notched nine points overall during the opening frame. He finished with 15 points on the night, falling just two buckets shy of his season high of 19.
Impact? Johnson had a plus-minus of plus-six on the night, but that number was skewed greatly by a late run by the Bucks. The Celtics were clearly a better team with him on the floor as he contributed with solid rebounding while making seven of his nine shots in the game.
This was exactly what the Celtics pictured when they signed Johnson to a deal this past offseason.
Brad Stevens on Isaiah Thomas scoring eight points during the fourth quarter.
