On Jan. 6, the Boston Celtics took a 25-point lead over the New York Knicks and lost heartbreakingly when RJ Barrett made a triple on the bell. This was the Celtics’ fifth loss in seven games, dropping them to 11th place in the Eastern Conference 18-21.
Froused and disappointed, Ime Udoka sat on the podium and let his team down. The Celtics first-year head coach called them out for their “lack of mental toughness to fight in these adverse times.”
“I feel like you’re 100 percent right, to be honest,” Robert Williams III said at the time. “It bothers us a lot, especially when we face adversity. We have to find in ourselves the struggle to unite.”
Five months later, the team has not only reunited, but has advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010. On Sunday night, the Celtics hung by a thread along the stretch to beat the Miami Heat in the 7th game of the season. Eastern Conference Finals, 100-96.
The post-game message this time around was a little different:
“Two 7 games in the last two series,” Udoka said. “It shows what I said about our group. We’ve fought a lot of adversity this year. A tough group. Tonight seemed to characterize our season.”
The Celtics still have their flaws. They are prone to turnover, can get out of games sometimes worrying too much about referees and have trouble scoring at the time of the crisis. They lost 14 points to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the second round, lost the sixth game of that series at home while maintaining a late lead, and saw their 13-point lead in the final minutes of the second round. game 7 was reduced. to two in the last seconds.
But even though they don’t always make it easy, they always have an answer.
“That’s what we do, we did everything on purpose to make it interesting,” Jaylen Brown said. “No, I’m kidding. But it’s us. We’ve been responding all year, all season to adversity. Today has been the biggest test, not just of the year, but of our careers. to mentally get into a 7 away game after losing at home, which was difficult, and we got it. “
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There were mini examples throughout this game. When their 17-point lead was reduced to six in the half (partly due to some questionable trades), they made a quick 7-1 at halftime to return it to double figures. When the Heat made another charge early in the fourth quarter to turn it into a three-point game, the Celtics scored an 8-0 run. And finally, when the Heat dropped back to two in the final seconds, Marcus Smart took two free clutch shots to help close the deal.
That was the mental toughness and endurance we saw from this group during the playoffs. They are 3-0 in the playoffs, including two away wins, have won two 7 games and are still in a perfect 6-0 after a loss. In fact, they haven’t lost a game in a row since the end of March.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this is the same team that sat there that fateful January night in New York wondering where it had all gone wrong. That defeat still lingers in Tatum’s mind. He referred to it again on Sunday, calling it the “lowest moment” of the season.
In another world, this could have been the beginning of the end of this group. Whether Tatum and Brown could play together was a constant topic of debate, not just in the local Boston media, but nationally. Marcus Smart’s ability to lead the team was in constant doubt, and he was once again subject to commercial rumors. There was also skepticism about whether Udoka was the right man for the job.
Even internally, doubts were beginning to arise.
“It was hard,” Tatum said. “As a matter of fact. There have certainly been some difficult times throughout the season where, don’t doubt yourself, but maybe you ask, oh, question, can we do that? You’re starting to realize how difficult it is. You start questioning yourself, are you good enough to be this guy?
“But I think you just trust yourself, you trust the work you’ve done to get to this point and keep working. It can’t rain forever. Good morning was coming. I felt like we were, whatever it was. one step away from clicking all season, and obviously once we did, we didn’t look back. “
Not when they dropped that game to the Knicks and they were sitting out of the tournament position. Not when they suffocated Game 5 to the Bucks in the second round and had to win two playoff games in a row. Not when they got rid of the sixth game of the Eastern Finals and had to return to Miami for a Game 7 on the road.
Regardless of the situation, the Celtics always relied on their skills and eager to have a chance to respond. For the past four months, they have focused on the next game and the next opportunity. Now, they have the biggest one yet.
“I think it’s good to enjoy tonight and be happy because it’s hard,” Tatum said. “It’s not easy, it’s clear it’s the first time I’ve been to the championship. It’s not easy. We know we have a difficult task ahead of us. They’ve been there many times, they’ve won many times. I’m looking forward to it.”