Mazzulla: “we’re starting to play what I would call Celtics basketball”

Zoom in on the first quarter of yesterday’s matinee game against the Magic. Orlando raced out to a ten-point lead despite the return of Kristaps Porzingis and his seven points in the first frame, but then some strong bench play highlighted by a Payton Pritchard steal, an Al Horford outlet, and a Jayson Tatum dunk lead a comeback charge.

Zoom out and it’s Jaylen Brown scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter (including 3-of-4 from behind the arc) in another blowout win over the Magic.

Zoom out further and the Celtics completed their two-game sweep of Orlando after they had won the last four meetings, including a 17-point blowout in the In-Season Tournament’s group stage.

Further still, Boston swept both mini-series against the Magic and Cavaliers, both physical teams that in the past, gave the Celtics trouble. Even further, the homestand started with a three-point shooting contest high-scoring win over the Knicks.

The 5-0 stretch was a good rebound after a disappointing loss in Indiana eliminated them from the IST, but more importantly, it’s proof positive that the players that President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens put together and the system that head coach Joe Mazzulla has built around them is working.

“We’re starting to play what I would call Celtics basketball, from a mentality standpoint, from a toughness standpoint, from a defensive standpoint and identity,” Mazzulla said after the Celtics 114-97 romp over the Magic on Sunday.

After Brown hit his third pull-up 3 of the quarter midway to cap off a 15-5 run, Mazzulla pumped his fist on the sideline heading into a timeout — an uncharacteristic show of emotion for the second year coach.

“Opponents bring out the best in us. They challenge us. And we don’t back down. We chip away at it and we respond. We dictate the mindset of the game, the physicality of the game. We’re just kinda playing with that kind of identity and I really seen that especially over the last four games. We may lost it from time to time, but we have to fight to keep this mindset on both ends of the floor.”

Over the last five games, the Celtics have sported an impressive 11.3 net rating. Remember those pesky third quarters? They were a +60 over the last week-plus. The five wins came against formidable Eastern Conference opponents all currently in the playoff picture today.

For weeks, Mazzulla has stressed that success will look different on any given night. In last Friday’s win over the Knicks, the game turned into a shootout with Derrick White scoring 30 of the Celtics’ 133 points.

Boston was down by as many as 15 points in the first quarter to Cleveland two nights later, but clamped down defensively and won behind the balanced scoring of Jayson Tatum (25), Jaylen Brown (25), and Kristaps Porzingis (21). In their second game against the Cavaliers, they flexed their defensive versatility and won wire-to-wire.

With their center depth depleted and on the backend of a back-to-back, Mazzulla went with speed and shooting with a heavy dose of Boston’s second unit to blowout out the Magic. And then in Sunday’s matinee win, Brown scored 31 in another physical rematch against Orlando.

“This was a challenging week and I know that throughout the course of the season, we always talk about we got a long way to go, we got a lot of things to work on which is true, but what we did this week was impressive,” Tatum said after averaging 26-8-4. “I’m not certain that last year, we would have won all four of these games. Playing two really good teams that present different challenges — especially with Orlando that we’ve struggled with in the past, especially on Friday when we had three bigs out — winning these four games at home, it was impressive. I was proud of the way we played.”

This week, the team will travel to California for another testy string of games against the Warriors, Kings, Clippers, and Lakers on Christmas Day. No rest for weary.