The Celtics Are Starting to Get Their Act Together

“They don’t want to pass the ball,” Smart said.

Brown and Tatum were not thrilled that Brown went public with his observations. A players’ only meeting ensued, which is seldom a good sign. Except the Celtics subsequently won two in a row before closing out a three-game road trip with a narrow loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday — a game that Brown missed with a hamstring injury. Still, on Wednesday morning, Brown expressed a feeling that had been in short supply: optimism.

“The spirit of this team is different,” he said, “and we’re going to continue to just keep pushing. I can feel it. I think that things will turn around for sure.”

Udoka, too, said before Wednesday’s game that his team was finding its identity, a bit of coach-speak that would have had a short shelf life with another uneven performance.

But in their rematch with the Raptors, the Celtics ran out to a 16-point lead by halftime and cruised. They did it without Brown, who was sidelined again, and without a proficient shooting night from Tatum, who was 8 of 24 from the field but finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. All five starters scored at least 10 points, and Richardson had 15 points off the bench.

Robert Williams III, the team’s starting center, said Boston had been building more cohesion thanks to a flurry of team dinners organized by the veterans and a greater emphasis on communication at practice.

“I feel like we’re bonding, finding stuff out about each other,” he said.

The Celtics have made seven straight postseason appearances, including three trips to the Eastern Conference finals, most recently in 2020. But after the team scuffled to a 36-36 record last season and were swept in the first round of the playoffs, Brad Stevens vacated his coaching job to move to the front office and was replaced on the bench by Udoka.