addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
BOSTON – What a difference a year makes.
The Boston Celtics are sitting pretty and riding high after breaking Milwaukee’s spirit Tuesday night and building a 2-0 series lead with a 120-106 drubbing of the Bucks.
A year ago, the Celtics were hanging their heads and questioning themselves after dropping their first two playoff games to No. 8-seeded Chicago at TD Garden.
Safe to say, this end of the spectrum is much more pleasant.
“Last year,” said Jaylen Brown, “it was a whole different vibe in the locker room.”
That’s because this time around, it’s the Celtics who are raising eyebrows.
Boston entered the postseason battered and bruised. Arguably its two best players, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, were done for the season. Two more, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis, were lost for at least the next couple of weeks (Smart) or for the remainder of the season as well (Theis). With all of those injuries in tow, 60 percent of the team’s starting lineup was 24 years old or younger, and one of those players was a rookie.
The Celtics were the team everyone wanted to play, until play actually began.
Boston has since put forth two of its most well-rounded offensive performances, and two of its most dominant defensive performances, of the entire season. For two straight games, the C’s have had at least four players score at least 16 points. For two straight games, the C’s limited Milwaukee to 83 or fewer shot attempts.
“We took the fight to them,” declared Brown, who scored a game-high 30 points Tuesday night.
Boston doesn’t seem content to end that fight after two games.
The Celtics, with their heaping of confidence in tow, collectively looked past Tuesday’s dominant victory and straight toward Friday’s Game 3 in Milwaukee. They want to keep this train rolling.
“I think we all understand that we have to play like it’s still even because we know it’s going to be tough on the road,” said Terry Rozier, who scored 23 points during each of the first two games, all while not committing a single turnover. “They’re going to be physical, so we just have to keep our heads on straight and take care of business on the road.”
Brown agreed, as he made it clear that the Celtics will not let off the gas during Game 3.
“We’re not taking anybody lightly going into Milwaukee,” he stated.
They’d better not, as Brad Stevens warned Tuesday night.
“If we don’t play with an edge we’ll get beat by 30,” Stevens said bluntly. “So we better play with an edge. We better play competitive. We better be tough. Can’t let go of that. You don’t have a chance if you don’t do that.”
The presence of that competitive fire at the start of this playoff run has been the greatest difference between this year’s team and last year’s team.
Last year, the overachieving C’s needed to be pinned against a wall to bring out their fire.
This year, the overlooked C’s were burning well before Game 1 even tipped off.
“We’ve got very good players, we’ve got very versatile players, we’ve got very confident players, we care about the game, we care about each other,” said Stevens, “but first and foremost, we’ve got really competitive guys.”
Guys who have taken the fight to Milwaukee thus far. Guys who have taken the Celtics to a 2-0 series lead.
What a difference a year makes. The Celtics are on their way to Milwaukee, and they’re vibing with a 2-0 lead.