Joe Mazzulla reveals the biggest ‘surprise’ during Celtics hot start

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla joined Zolak and Bertrand on Wednesday and revealed what he sees as the biggest surprise so far in a season with a new mix of players and championship expectations:

Hardy: At this point in the season, kind of a new lineup. Porzingis out there, Jrue Holiday is out there. What has surprised you or what have you seen through these ten games that you didn't expect either from your starters or from maybe somebody off the bench?

Joe Mazzulla: Just their connectedness is really good. Like I said, our effort has been very, very consistent. Regardless of who we're playing, what the score of the game is, I think we're really playing with the right intentions. But what's really surprised me is because we have so many high level guys, success is going to look different each and every night. And you have to we have to do a great job as a staff and as a team of understanding what each guy is bringing to the table night in and night out. Also knowing we have some superstars that we need to be superstars a lot of the nights in the NBA because you need that. And so, Jrue was assist away from a triple double the other night. Porzingis had 22 points and the next night he only took four shots. But his screening was really impressive. Jaylen's ability to play off the ball and Jayson took three shots and then he goes on his run. So it's just understanding that we're going to have to play off of each other and in some games you may not think you played a good game, but you really impacted your team.

The in-season tournament floor may have been replaced by the normal Garden parquet, but for the second night in a row, it was Jaylen Brown who once again led the way for Boston, this time in a 117-94 victory over the Raptors at TD Garden.

The C's leading scorer for the second time in less than 24 hours, Brown finished this game with 29 points, doing so behind a 12-for-20 performance, including makes on three of his eight tries from deep, in 31:41 of action.

Separated by just four points through 12 minutes of play, and less than 10 at the half, it was the third quarter that saw Boston pull away in this contest, as the Celtics shot 56 percent from the floor and outscored Toronto 33-25.

And behind Brown, Jayson Tatum provided more than enough secondary support, with 27 points on a 10-for-18 shooting evening, while Kristaps Porzingis provided a solid 21 points. This marked the third time this season that the Celtics' 'Big 3' trifecta of Brown-Tatum-Porzingis have each finished the game with at least 20 points.

With the win, the C's improved to 7-2 on the season.

They'll return to action Monday night when the Knicks come to town.