‘It feels like we engulf teams’ on defense, says Celtics head coach Ime Udoka of Boston’s recent success

We are finally seeing the fruit of the seeds Udoka planted at the start of the season.

For the last few weeks, the Boston Celtics have looked like an entirely different team, buying in at an elite level on the defensive end of the court and starting to find their way as one of the NBA’s better offenses on the other.

It has translated into a six-game win streak that has seen the Celtics pass the Brooklyn Nets in the standings and hint that they might have a deep playoff run in them with the right tweaks to their roster. Asked what had changed since Boston had so recently been struggling just to hang around a .500 record after the win over the Nets, and head coach Ime Udoka did not miss a beat, clearly happy to have this brand of praise for his team.

“It feels like we’re connected,” explained the Celtics coach.