Gut Check

The Celtics toughed out a win against the Chicago Bulls

“Can they do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?”

The above is a somewhat cliché saying here in England, often reserved for transfer talk involving the best footballing (soccer) talent around Europe.

My interpretation of that quote, bearing in mind that I’m not a football fan by any stretch, is that all the skill in the world isn’t enough when you’re backed against the wall, dealing with elements outside of your control and facing down one of the more physical opponents in your league.

It’s a question not of skill alone, but of character.

And on Monday evening, the Celtics proved they can get it done on a rainy night in Stoke.

Coming off the back of a four-game West Coast road trip, jet-lagged from a cross-country flight, Joe Mazzulla’s team was back in action.

Scrappy.

Sloppy.

Gritty.

Throw any adjective you want to describe the performance, but know this: the only one that matters is victory.

You can’t expect every game to be 2K-esque, hitting green on every shot and decimating any defensive coverage that comes your way. It’s not viable.

A few years back, when Ime Udoka was in the hot seat, I consistently banged the defensive drum. ‘You will have cold shooting nights. Shot variance is largely outside of your control. What you can control, though, is your defensive effort, execution and attention to detail.’ — I must have said a variation of this at least 400 times that season, primarily on the now-defunct CelticsBlog podcast.

Since the birth of this newsletter, I’ve sporadically sprinkled my belief that Boston’s identity remains on the defensive end. And to win those brutal Stoke-like nights, it has to be.

“Something had to give,” Mazzulla said during his postgame news conference. “Either you’re coming into the game, and it’s, ‘We’re going to have the shots, we’re going to make shots, we’re going to do that.’ But for us to not shoot the ball well at all in that first half, but to play well defensively, that’s the sign of a mature team. So it was impressive. The way they were able to compete tonight — I just liked the competitive spirit throughout the entire game.”

‘Not to shoot the ball well’ is putting it lightly. By halftime, the Celtics were 20-of-56 from the field and just 28.6% from deep.

The plus side? Mazzulla’s team had taken the Bulls by the horns.

Chicago shot even worse: 31.7% from the field, 17.9% from deep. More importantly, the Celtics were ahead in the math game, with a +15 shot margin.

Defense doesn’t always come in the half-court. In our minds, it does. The word "defend" literally means to protect something. In basketball, that’s the paint, the three-point line and the rim. However, as us Celtics fans have learned far too often this season, teams can also defend while staying on the front foot.

How? Offensive rebounding.

The reasoning here is two-fold. When you grab the offensive board, you’re doing two things: killing any fast break opportunity and giving your team an extra possession. In a sport with finite possessions, that’s defensive even while staying on offense.