BOSTON — Less than 24 hours after one of their best wins of the season, the Celtics could have made excuses.
Travel issues made the Celtics stay an extra night in Milwaukee after their blowout win over the Bucks, and they didn’t land in Boston until about six hours before tip-off for their game against the Jazz. The visitors’ top players — including All-Star Lauri Markkanen — were out. The Celtics’ top two frontcourt players, Al Horford and Robert Williams, were also missing from the lineup.
The Celtics have suffered many puzzling losses to inferior, short-handed opponents throughout the season and about a week until the playoffs, Friday’s matchup — the second night of a back-to-back — had the ingredients for another one. But coach Joe Mazzulla wanted his team to learn from their mistakes of old and emphasized responding to wins as much as they did losses, like they did on Thursday after Tuesday’s bad loss to the Wizards. Mazzulla said Thursday’s big win over the Bucks wouldn’t matter without the same effort a night later against a team that beat them earlier this month.
