The Celtics are basketball robots

On Sunday afternoon, the Boston Celtics blew the doors off the Golden State Warriors. It was 21-21 with 6:05 left in the first quarter, but by halftime, the Celtics’ lead had ballooned to 82-38.

It marked their 11th game in a row and their second 50-point victory of the win streak. Boston has been completely rolling through the NBA for the past month.

But they don’t care.

“We show up here, and we play the game,” said Joe Mazzulla. “It’s the most important thing that we have to do, is play the game. And when the game’s over, nobody cares.”

For Boston, the past is the past, the present is the present, and the future is whatever is right in front of their face. There is no dwelling on losses, and there is no skipping steps. They are wholly focused on the task at hand, no matter what game, practice, or opponent it may be.

Mazzulla’s mindset-first mentality has been a theme for the whole year, from preseason to now. The Celtics are simultaneously level-headed and ready to embrace any adversity that gets in their way.

“Next game mentality,” Jaylen Brown said. “What happened in the past is the past. It’s a new year, new team, and we’re focused on what’s in front of us. And every single day is a challenge, and as they present [themselves], we accept it and embrace it. So, tomorrow is going to present other challenges. And the day after, and next week, and so on.

“So, I think we should just continue to focus on that. And that’s what we do, just focus on what’s next. And we’ve done a good job of that all season. And I think, when that adversity comes, we just got to be ready to embrace it.”

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Brown was the subject of Golden State’s questionable defensive experiment on Sunday, as they purposefully left him open. He scored 19 points in the first quarter, and helped the Celtics surge forward past a red-hot Warriors squad.

In spite of Stephen Curry’s recent struggles, which continued against Boston with a four-point, 0-of-9 from deep showing, the Warriors had been rolling. Heading into their tilt at TD Garden, they had won 13 of their last 16 games.

The game prior, Boston faced off against the Dallas Mavericks. They were one of the hottest teams in basketball throughout February.

Two blowout wins over a bonafide playoff team and one of the hottest teams in the league. The Celtics refuse to get amped.

In-game emotions spill out from time to time. Brown screaming and clapping his hands after forcing Curry into a backcourt violation. Luke Kornet getting fired up for a late-game Payton Pritchard-to-Svi Mykhailiuk alley-oop. Jayson Tatum doing his signature kiss celebration after a huge play.

But as soon as the final buzzer sounds, they’re onto the next. Calm, cold-blooded professionals.

“I think this is the best group I’ve been a part of in that department,” Brown said of the team’s next-game mentality. “I think that we have experience, we’ve grown, we’ve matured. To certain extents, we’ve seen a lot of different variations of a lot of different basketball. So, I think we are primed, and we’re ready.”

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

The Celtics now have an 8.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference standings and a 6.5-game lead over any other team in the NBA.

To the naked eye, talent is the most obvious factor behind their success, but their mental approach is leading the way behind the scenes.

“They’re doing everything that, not that I ask, but they’re doing everything that we say we need to do,” Mazzulla said. “And so, like I said, we have a veteran team. We have a bunch of smart guys.

“It’s not rocket science from the standpoint of what we know we have to try to work on every day. And so, they’re doing the things that they know are important for us to get to where we want to get to.”

Boston’s current win streak is a testament to their steadiness.

“They’re not doing better than I expected or worse than I expected,” said Mazzulla. “It’s just kind of like if we want to win and have a chance, [these are] the things that we have to do. And so, the guys, credit to them for making the choice every day to do it.”

Boston isn’t surprised at their own success or disappointed when they lose. They’re stone-faced. Basketball robots.

Expect it to stay that way.