Celtics finding the fun in the game to get themselves through the January grind

For a brief moment, a bunch of NBA millionaires showed their goofy 20-something sides (or 20-plus-13 side, Jrue Holiday ) as they celebrated a mundane win over a bad team. 

“I think it’s really fun. And I think it's really important just to find the joy in basketball,” Holiday said after the game. “(This portion of the schedule can) be a lot, but I think to find different challenges for our team and find that joy in basketball is really big right now.”

January in the NBA can sort of be like walking through my backyard when I’ve been lazy about cleaning up after my dogs. If you’re not watching your step, you can find yourself stepping in it. Like the third quarter against San Antonio, it can be annoying and gross. But this Celtics team has been able to mostly navigate their way through the doldrums with only minimal mess. And that's because these guys actually like each other. 

“It’s been a pleasure,” Jaylen Brown said. “I’ve been on some great teams and we’ve had some great locker rooms and this marks up with one of the best groups and teams and character that we’ve had. We all get along, it’s a good atmosphere, we got guys that come to work every day, trying to improve and get better and all of that stuff, you don’t take for granted.”

That's where it all starts. The reason why everyone was happy to get together for Oshae Brissett to snap a team photo on the plane is because of the respect they each have for one another when they take the court for practices and shoot-arounds. The reason why they can have fun with one another the way they do is because there is no bad blood from someone loafing, skipping a lifting session, or otherwise disrespecting teammates. 

“The players all have to buy into it -- I mean ALL -- have to buy into it or it doesn't work,” Gregg Popovich said. “The love of being able to love your teammates, feeling responsible to them, like ‘I owe you and you owe me, and that's why I have to block out. That's why I have to bust my ass in transition D. That's why I have to build you up if I think you need it.’ All those things have to happen over time with your group or you really don't get there. And It's difficult. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.”

It’s a classic work-hard/play-hard situation. Boston is working hard, and they're going to lean on some playing hard from time to time to get themselves through this slog. 

And maybe that means Brown throws a between-the-legs pass to Brissett and then points to the bench because they wouldn’t let him live down a botched behind-the-back pass earlier in the game. 

“They was giving me s---,” Brown said. “I was looking for Payton on the behind-the-back, but Payton be running so fast sometimes, I mistimed it. So they was giving me some s--- … (Derrick White was) like, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’ He was just teasing me a little bit. But it’s all fun, man.”

I know, I know … you don’t want Brown throwing either of those passes but sometimes you have to let guys have their moments. Sometimes a coach has to look the other way on things like that in this particular situation because the net effect of guys staying engaged and keeping a smile on their faces is more important than being pissed about one turnover. It’s not like he played the whole game left-handed or anything.

Basketball is a fun game, after all. 

And the way the Celtics have played the game this season has mostly been fun for everyone watching. They hit the halfway point of the season on a pace to win 64 games, which would be the fourth-most in team history. Thirteen Celtics teams over 78 seasons have won 60 games. Six of them have won championships. There's a good chance this year’s club can be the 14th and seventh of those teams, which would be great fun for all involved. 

In the waning moments of the game, the starters got to watch Jordan Walsh get his first few minutes of game time as a pro. His official debut goes down as a zero-point, four-rebound night, but the crowd loved all 3:03 of him on the floor. Every time he touched the ball, the energy in the building changed. Everyone in the stands, and on the bench, wanted him to get his first points. 

“Soon as I was open, the ball started heading towards me and they started screaming,” Walsh said. “I may have been a little nervous.”

He missed his shot by about a foot, so yeah, I’d say he was nervous. And there's no doubt there was some fun had at his expense in the locker room, all in good fun, of course. 

“You hear other things in other locker rooms and it doesn’t always be that way, so the last few years, I think we’ve been blessed,” Brown said. “I’ve been personally blessed to have a great locker room … you never know how things may go in this league and it’s a group that we enjoy being around each other.”