Celtics-Pelicans Notebook: A ‘morgue’-like postgame presser, everybody loves Al Horford, 5-second violations

BOSTON — The Celtics escaped with a 120-119 win over the Pelicans, and when the final buzzer sounded, there was a strong sense of relief in the building.

A near-disastrous loss against one of the league’s lowest-ranked teams was avoided — but just barely. After a game marked by shooting struggles and costly errors, the Celtics finally led by 5 with 22 seconds to play.

From that moment on, almost everything went wrong.

Dejounte Murray (26 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) tipped in a missed Trey Murphy three-pointer to cut the deficit to three, and Jayson Tatum (38 points, 11 rebounds) — who up until the waning moment was a perfect 8-8 from the line — uncharacteristically bricked two free throws that would have put away the game.

The Celtics intentionally fouled CJ McCollum who sunk two free throws with 7 seconds to play. Then came the most uncharacteristic moment of the night: Derrick White committed a 5-second violation inbounding the ball. It appeared he called for a timeout right on the cusp of a 5-second violation — and in turn, the Pelicans had a chance to win it.

But, McCollum rimmed out a layup attempt, and the Celtics officially improved to 28-11 on the season.

As tumultuous as things may have felt in recent weeks, the Celtics’ record is still the third-best in the NBA — and it’s just two games worse than their 30-9 record through 39 games last season.

Still, there wasn’t a celebratory feeling after the victory.

“The most important thing is winning the game and making the necessary plays, even when things aren’t going well, so to speak,” said Joe Mazzulla after the win. “So, every season brings on different challenges, every game brings on different opportunities. And, the situation that we’re in now is — we got to just fight to win.”

Joe Mazzulla says the post-victory postgame presser feels like a morgue — but he likes the high expectations

Postgame, Mazzulla was asked a slew of strongly-worded questions about the Celtics struggles of late: about the uncharacteristic execution down the stretch, about the turnovers, about the starting five’s abysmal on-court numbers. He accepted the tone of the press conference as legitimate affirmation about the Celtics’ lofty expectations and high standards.

“I would say the ultimate compliment is that we’re 28-11 — and these are the types of conversations that we’re having,” Mazzulla said. “So, it’s a beautiful place to be in.”

In a moment that reflected a strong self-awareness of his usual dry sarcasm, Mazzulla added: “I’m serious. I think it’s great. It’s a great standard and a great expectation to have, and we have to deliver. And so, we all know that.”

“What are we, the third-best team in the league right now?” Mazzulla said, noting the historic pace of both the Thunder (32-6) and Cavaliers (33-5) this year. “Which isn’t great, but look at — it sounds like a morgue in here. And that’s how it should be.”

Mazzulla is right — the discourse around the team’s current play has been highly critical, and sometimes, that criticism has been deserving. But Mazzulla’s perspective on the team’s impossibly high standard is fair.

A five-second violation almost costs the Celtics the win

All the Celtics had to do is successfully inbound the ball and hit their free throws, and they would have had this one in the bag. But, throughout these past five weeks of basketball, seemingly-simple actions — such as layups and open threes — have proved difficult.

And, Derrick White couldn’t find an opening on a sidelines out-of-bounds play that saw Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Payton Pritchard all stand relatively still. Brown appeared momentarily open, but as the five seconds ticked by, White instead motioned for a timeout. The referees deemed the timeout call was too late, and a five-seconds violation was called.

Mazzulla was asked about the play postgame by Boston Globe columnist Gary Washburn and stayed tight-lipped.

The exchange was textbook Mazzulla when he’s keeping his cards close to his chest, and went as follows:

Washburn: Joe, what did you see on the 5-second violation?

Mazzulla: Yep.

Washburn: What did you see on it?

Mazzulla: Yes.

Washburn: You saw it was 5 seconds?

Mazzulla: Sure.

Washburn: You had a timeout… Should Derrick have called a timeout? What should have happened there?

Mazzulla: Yep.

So, I guess we’ll never know exactly how Mazzulla really felt about the fact the timeout wasn’t granted. He did successfully avoid any potential fine for criticizing officiating, if that’s what he was worried about.

Willie Green is the latest (former) teammate to praise Al Horford

On a very different note, Pelicans head coach Willie Green was asked about his experience being teammates with Al Horford more than a decade ago on the Atlanta Hawks.

The single-season the two shared (2011-2012) was enough to spur Green to light up when asked about Al Horford.

“One of my favorite teammates of all time. One of my favorite people of all time,” Green said resoundingly in his pregame media availability. “What you see is what you get from Al. He’s a pros pro. I think everywhere he’s gone, people sing his praises. They speak highly of him. He’s a high-character, hard worker. And there’s a reason that, you get a guy like Al and his team, they’re having success. Because, not just the talent, but the character that he brings into this building. “

Horford scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting in this one — and shot 3-4 from downtown. That brings him to 47% from three over his last four games, a marked increase from his previous three games, in which he shot 18% from three. The 38-year-old veteran finding a rhythm could provide a much-needed boost for a Celtics team that has seemingly been in a collective shooting slump.

Could Kristaps Porzingis be better served coming off the bench?

Kristaps Porzingis had another solid outing for the Celtics, scoring 19 points on 7-19 shooting, grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking 3 shots (and it felt like more than 3!).

But, the Celtics starting lineup of Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Porzingis, Tatum, and White continues to struggle. They’ve only shared the floor for 138 minutes, but have a -8.9 net rating in that span. Conversely, that same lineup with Horford in place of Porzingis has played 208 minutes with a +21.9 net rating.

Statistics always have their limitations, and Porzingis’s increased minutes with the starting group certainly coincides with their struggles — but isn’t necessarily their cause. Still, seeing him thrive in the bench role during the NBA Finals last year — and Horford’s enormous experience sharing the floor with the rest of the starters — at least poses the question of whether a shakeup would benefit the Celtics.

Mazzulla said postgame that the groups’ offensive and defensive ratings on both ends of the floor were substantially worse than what their “expected” ratings were, and also noted how small the sample size was.

“It’s not an excuse,” Mazzulla said. “We have to be better. But, it’s essentially in a train camp form with this particular group.”