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BOSTON — Anfernee Simons is learning how to become a Boston Celtic, and he's having fun doing it. He showed what he's learned so far on Monday night, torching the Chicago Bulls with a season-high 27 points en route to a 115-101 win at TD Garden.
The first-year Celtic kept the Bulls at bay in the fourth quarter, recording 15 of Boston's 30 total points in the final frame. He also accounted for 8 of the Celtics' 20 triples on the night and his last 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining sealed the victory, giving Boston its fourth straight win.
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Although the shooting guard's time in Beantown began with trade rumors and a move to the bench, Simons has enjoyed becoming a Celtic.
"It's been fun," he said during his postgame presser on Monday. "I think it's been fun kind of implementing myself into this culture that's been set and expectations that've been set already as well, too."
The former Portland Trail Blazer may not have been accustomed to such an intense, winning culture. Because while the Blazers have had talented teams in recent years, the last time they made the NBA Finals was almost a decade before Simons was born.
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Despite this culture shock, Simons has been proud of the way he's improved and gelled with the new-look Celtics.
"Like I said, it's been fun, almost halfway through the season, and I feel like I've grown so much in a lot of areas, just mentally, how to approach each and every game, just the attention to detail and the intensity that we play with each and every night," he said. "That's the standard that's been set. And so I've been pretty pleased with myself, and obviously the team, how much we've been taking on that challenge."
Everybody knew Simons could score when he came to Boston, and he's reaffirmed that by shooting over 38% from deep this season. His defense was the big question mark.
However, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told Simons from the start that he had the potential to be better on that side of the ball and prove his doubters wrong.
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"I've been pretty pleased with myself when it comes to that end of the floor," Simons admitted. "And I just got to keep building...Like tonight, it was fun to kind of push myself, conditioning-wise, to keep that same intensity defensively."
Simons has scored in double figures in eight of his last nine games and increased his playing time to 24.5 minutes per outing in January — his highest average since the first month of the season. Even if Simons was scoring, he wouldn't get much run if he didn't prove he was capable on defense, making his recent uptick in minutes meaningful.
Of course, Simons is still a scorer at heart. Yet, Mazzulla primarily praised his defense after the double-digit win over the Bulls.
"Where he's really been the most consistent is the defensive end," Mazzulla emphasized. "That's where he's been at his best. So he just comes in every day, wants to work, wants to play hard, wants to win, so he'll do what it takes."
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Following Simons' season-high performance, the Celtics improved to 23-12 and moved into second place in the Eastern Conference. They'll have another opportunity to keep the fun times going against the undermanned Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at TD Garden.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Anfernee Simons has enjoyed getting to know the Celtics' culture
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