BOSTON — The Celtics were on a mission to reward their fans before everyone headed home to commence their New Year’s Eve festivities on Tuesday.
Fans filled TD Garden’s stands in the afternoon hours of Tuesday, hoping to watch the reigning champions close 2024 on a strong note and bounce back from a slip-up loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. Boston checked all its necessary boxes by demolishing the Toronto Raptors, 125-71, prompting head coach Joe Mazzulla to share a candid message before the team officially enters 2025.
“I told the guys before the game, ‘It’s 3 o’clock on a Tuesday and we’ve lost more home games this year than we had last year,’ and look at the passion that (the fans) have for who we are,” Mazulla said. “So, I’m thankful for that but for a 3 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, to get that passion is kind of why this job is the best job. And that’s where the responsibility comes in and you gotta bring it.”
Boston dropped the ball on Christmas Day against the Philadelphia 76ers, then during the second of a back-to-back hosting the Pacers. That put the Celtics on a 5-5 stretch across their previous 10 games with concerns about the team’s outside shooting, defensive attention to detail and depth looming into question. But Mazzulla, Jayson Tatum and the rest of the locker room expressed zero worries and accepted the reality of what comes with an 82-game regular season — even as the title defenders.
The Celtics regained Jrue Holiday’s presence after the 34-year-old missed the previous three games with a right shoulder impingement injury. Holiday immediately became a difference-maker in the lineup, scoring 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting with four made 3-pointers and tallying a game-high three steals on the other end. It had been a while but the Holiday-Derrick White backcourt tandem suffocated Toronto’s offense — White recorded four blocks — and paved the way for the team.
Mazzulla’s urgent Celtics kept their foot firmly on the gas, scoring 80 points in the second half and tallying a score differential (54 points) that was the second-largest in team history. Boston recorded 14 steals and seven blocks, shot 51.2% from three on 43 attempts and gifted its starters an early removal at the end of the third quarter.
Mission accomplished and message delivered.
