BOSTON — The locker room cleared out quickly after Boston’s 118-108 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.

Jaylen Brown was dressed and headed to the door by the time reporters made their way into the room. Half of the media contingent missed Al Horford’s first few questions – he was apparently showered, dressed and awaiting reporters when they finally began to filter in.

After a grueling start to the season – full of enough drama to make a soap opera writer feel like he was doing too much – the Celtics pulled themselves out of perhaps their worst rut of the season and claimed consecutive wins heading into the All-Star break. The Celtics survived 41/2 long months, and a game on Wednesday that felt like 41/2 long months.

They are ready for a couple of days off.

“It’s been a long season,” Marcus Smart said. “As you can tell we had a lot of guys out tonight and unfortunately it hurts for us, we have to work with what we have. So to be able to get that mentally and physically, to get your body back rejuvenated and come back fresh and ready to go, I think every team will.”

The mass exodus of the locker room wasn’t an attempt to avoid tough questions. The Celtics looked great even in Kyrie Irving’s absence against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, and they had moments of brilliance against the Pistons. Smart rediscovered his 3-point stroke and turned the third quarter into a rout. Gordon Hayward slithered between defenders and went up under the rim for a layup on Boston’s first possession, setting the tone for an aggressive evening as one of Boston’s lead ball-handlers (18 points on 5-for-8 shooting).

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“(Gordon) looked very confident,” Al Horford said. “Very happy to see him being aggressive, attacking the basket. Just happy, happy for Gordon. It’s been a long road for him, and he just keeps making strides. That’s what we need him to be.”

Wednesday was so obviously a potential trap game – the second night of a back-to-back, following an important road win against the Philadelphia 76ers – it almost didn’t qualify. But the Celtics kept coughing up big leads – once in the first half after handing Detroit a 17-0 run in the first quarter, and once late when the Pistons managed to trim a 28-point second-half deficit down to manageable margins on multiple occasions in the fourth.

But if you are looking for signs of progress beyond individual performances, the Celtics rallied back – answering Detroit’s run with an 18-0 stretch in the second quarter and crushing the Pistons’ woeful bench unit. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics got 3-pointers from Al Horford and Marcus Morris to keep them at an arm’s length.

Before the season, expectations were sky high for the Celtics, but anyone who watches basketball regularly knew there would be growing pains. Those growing pains turned chronic, as the Celtics turned three steps forward and two steps back into a regular pattern.

Post All-Star break holds plenty of promise. Irving should be back. Brown’s hand healed, and he settled into his role in the second unit. Terry Rozier is getting better. Hayward is having his best month of the season by a significant margin. Smart is making 3-pointers. Horford is fully healthy, and his recent play hints at last year’s playoff run.

“Physically I actually feel really good,” Horford said. “I just think mentally, it’ll be nice for a couple days for all of us just to get away and get some more energy heading into the second half of the season.”

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For the next week, Smart is headed for warmer weather. Irving and Tatum will both be in Charlotte, participating in the festivities. Hayward, anchored by his newborn daughter, will spend the break in Boston.

“I’ll be in the facility and doing my ankle work and continuing to get shots up and stuff, just trying to stay ready,” Hayward said. “It’ll actually be really good that we’re not going anywhere, and I’m able to continue to put some work in.”

All season, the Celtics have had to toggle back and forth between the present while pushing aside thoughts of the future. In the future, they will try to barrel through the playoffs, likely without home-court advantage. In the future, they will probably make an aggressive run at Pelicans star Anthony Davis.

But in the present, the young players are rounding into shape, and we are getting glimpses of what the Celtics could be when the postseason finally rolls around.

“We’re still fighters, man,” Smart said. “That’s it. We’ve been hit with a lot of adversity and we’re going to continue (to hit us), but we keep finding ways to overcome it and we keep finding ways to come out with victories. And we keep fighting with what we have.”


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