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 Yes, even against the decimated New Orleans Pelicans.
"I thought we looked a little road weary, but on those nights you
have to find a way," the Boston Celtics coach said after his club
escaped with a 104-97 victory over the undermanned but pesky
Pelicans. "I was actually pretty pleased because I knew it was going
to be really hard, due to the circumstances of everything."
The Celtics saw a 16-point, early-third quarter lead shrink to
three, then grow back to 14 late in the quarter, but the Pelicans
came back and had a chance to win.
New Orleans rallied despite being without injured players averaging
a total of 100 points per game.
"They played really, really well and really hard," Stevens said
after Boston's third consecutive win left the Celtics (46-32) in a
virtual tie with the Atlanta Hawks for third place in the Eastern
Conference. The Heat (45-32) are a half-game back in fifth, and the
Charlotte Hornets (45-33) are a half-game behind Miami in sixth.
 The Celtics play three of their last four games at home, the only
road game against Atlanta on Saturday night.
Avery Bradley hit a jumper to snap a 93-93 tie, and Isaiah Thomas
scored 32 points for the victory.
Bradley shook off a poor shooting night by nailing a late 3-pointer.
Jae Crowder followed a Marcus Smart missed 3-pointer -- Boston's
33rd trey attempt of the game -- to make it 97-93. Two Thomas free
throws extended the lead to six with 1:23 left. New Orleans scored
and almost scored again, but Amir Johnson blocked a Luke Babbitt
layup and Bradley then iced the game with his first successful trey
in six tries.
"Whenever we are going through adversity, we should be able to
overcome it," said Bradley, who scored 13 points. "That's what kind
of team we should be moving forward."
Thomas said of Bradley, "That's what he does. He hits big shots."
The Celtics finished 10-for-34 from 3-point range against a team
that dressed the NBA-minimum eight players.
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Thomas, extending his own club record by leading the team in scoring
for the 17th straight game, continued his torrid second half of the
season, adding eight assists and four rebounds. Crowder scored 14
points, and Smart had 11.
Toney Douglas led the Pelicans (29-49) with 19 points and added
seven rebounds and three assists. Babbitt had 16 points and eight
boards, Jordan Hamilton 14 points and Alexis Ajinka 10 points and
eight rebounds.
New Orleans was 9-for-24 from 3-point range and committed 23
turnovers. Boston gave the ball away just 10 times.
"I thought we did a good job," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "We
played hard and we competed like crazy. We got down and kept
plugging away at it. Once we were down like 16, 14 and got the game
tied. We did it again.
"Just couldn't seem to make a couple plays at the end that would get
us over the hump."
Because of their slew of injuries, the Pelicans didn't start a
player averaging more than 7.6 points per game. They were coming off
a loss at lowly Philadelphia but had won two of their last three
games -- and played a disciplined style that wouldn't let the
Celtics get too far ahead in the first half.
However, the Celtics, who went just 4-for-17 from 3-point range in
the first 24 minutes, finished the half with a 13-6 run and led by
eight at the break. They then scored the first eight points of the
second half, six of them on back-to-back 3-pointers by Crowder.
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