Jaylen Brown set the tone right from the jump.
"He has the presence to be the quarterback on the defensive end," Mazzulla said of Smart."We’re able to change matchups, and when he’s doing that, our defense is special. It starts with him, and I think he brought it both physically and mentally on the defensive end, which was huge for us."
Defense was critical to Boston's run to the 2022 NBA Finals; they boasted a 106.3 defensive rating and held opponents to 105 points or fewer in 13 of their 24 games. The Celtics rarely reached that level defensively during this regular season, relying on a high-octane offense to put teams away."Setting the tone defensively was key," Brown said after the game."Just letting them know from the jump it's gonna be a long night.
The Celtics' offense is much-improved from the 2022 playoffs, as evidenced by Derrick White pouring in 24 points and five players hitting multiple 3-pointers. Their focus for the remainder of this Hawks series should be replicating the defensive effort they displayed Saturday -- an effort that could be the different between a playoff exit and Banner 18.
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