The Boston Celtics’ 103-95 win over the Indiana Pacers at TD Garden this past Monday (Dec. 22) evening saw head coach Joe Mazzulla pull his starters at a critical moment of the game’s third quarter with the Pacers up big with Boston looking out of sorts for reasons unknown. But that moment on the brink of what would have been a disastrous loss became a golden opportunity for rookie Celtics forward Hugo Gonzalez and the rest of his teammates coming off the bench that night.
The move, as radical as it was, worked quite well, the so-called Stay Ready Crew stepping up to walk down the lead to a manageable level for the starters to retake the reins and win the game in the contest’s final frame. Gonzalez had plenty to say about how that hockey substitution approach went over with the team. “Everyone on the board wanted to win,” said the Madrid native. “We needed some energy there to believe in a comeback.”
“I think that sometimes, whoever was on the court, I’m sure it was going to help with that,” he added. “That’s what’s needed when that happens. Obviously, you don’t expect Jaylen (Brown) and Derrick (White) and all those guys to sit.”
Gonzalez played a career-high 37 minutes including 24 straight in the second half, and had many wondering how his motor was still so high throughout. “I think that being prepared, mentally prepared, really physical too but mentally prepared (for when) you play 24 minutes in a row, you’ve just to be solid.”
“Try to make it solid and knowing that you’ve got now a responsibility that you haven’t had the past year, for example, or in the beginning of the year. When you’ve got a responsibility you’ve got to take accountability of that, when you play good, and when you play not that good.”
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