Another day, another shorthanded win for the Boston Celtics.
Despite resting two starters, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta, for Monday night's road game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the depleted Celtics still won handily on the second night of a back-to-back. Boston dominated from the jump, crushing the Bucks 108-81 and spoiling Giannis Antetokounmpo's return from injury at Fiserv Forum.
The Celtics have surprisingly won six of their seven games without Brown this season. They've also managed to go 41-20 without Jayson Tatum this year, good for the fourth-best record in the NBA.
After the game, Boston rookie Hugo Gonzalez explained how the team keeps winning without its top players.
"We’ve just got our standard and we want to maintain it every single game. We don’t like to take excuses," Gonzalez told NBC Sports' Abby Chin. "I think we got a really good spirit."
After getting mobbed by Ron Harper Jr., Hugo Gonzalez tells @tvabby after his career night helped the Celtics earn a 27-point win in their fifth game in seven days, on the second half of a b2b, with Brown & Queta out:
“We’ve just got our standard and we want to maintain it every… https://t.co/r1DwxMLdOO pic.twitter.com/PMSYrQRkNU
— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) March 3, 2026
Celtics players and coaches have been talking about their high standard all season, so it's become a running theme at this point. Still, they've been proving it on a nightly basis, especially recently. Boston's won 12 of its last 14 games, getting better as the season has progressed.
Gonzalez helped uphold that standard on Monday, stepping up in Brown's absence. The 20-year-old rookie made the most of his third career NBA start, establishing new career highs with 18 points and 16 rebounds in his best game yet.
It wasn't a fluke, either, as Gonzalez has been excellent all year coming off the bench, leading NBA rookies in plus/minus.
As long as role players like Gonzalez keep picking up the slack and filling in when needed, the Celtics will always have a chance to win, regardless of who's in their starting lineup.
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