On January 6, the Celtics squandered a 25-point lead against the New York Knicks and they lost unfortunately, being the fifth loss in seven games and they were also sailing in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with 18-21.
the coach Ime Udokafrustrated and disappointed, in his first year with Boston he called his team to talk about the “lack of mental strength to fight in these adverse times”. Robert Williams III Celtics player explains: “I feel that he is 100% right, to be honest. We get very restless, especially when we face adversity. We have to find in ourselves the fight to unite.”
Five months later, the team not only came together, but advanced to the Finals of the NBA for the first time since 2010. On Sunday night, Celtics they beat the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 100-96.
The postgame message this time was a little different: “Two Game 7s in the last two series. It shows what I said about our group. That we fought through a lot of adversity this year. A resilient group. Tonight seemed to typify our season.” Udoka said.
The Celtics they still have their flaws. They are prone to turnovers, can sometimes be eliminated from games if they care too much about referees, and have trouble scoring in critical times. They blew a 14-point lead against the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the second round, lost Game 6 of this series at home despite holding a late lead, and saw their 13-point lead whittled away in the final minutes of the game. Game 7. But even if they don’t always make it easy for them, they always have an answer.
“That’s what we do, we did all of that on purpose to make it interesting. No, I’m just kidding, but that’s the way we are. We’ve been responding all year, all season to adversity. Today was the biggest test, not just of the year. but about our careers, mentally going into a Game 7 away from home, after losing at home, which was tough, and we got it,” Jaylen Brown said.
The Celtics they have overcome adversity with mental toughness and resilience throughout the playoffs. They are 3-0 in elimination games, including two road wins, have won two Game 7s and are still a perfect 6-0 after one loss. In fact, they haven’t lost consecutive games since the end of March.
The feeling of defeat at the beginning of the season was left far behind. Even Marcus Smart’s ability to lead the team was in constant doubt, and he was once again the subject of trade rumours. There was also skepticism about whether Udoka was the right man for the job.
Even internally, doubts were beginning to arise.
“It was tough. Really. There were definitely some tough moments throughout the season where, don’t doubt yourself, but maybe you’re wondering, yeah, you’re wondering, can we do it? You start to realize how hard what it is to win. You start to question yourself, are you good enough to be that guy?” Jayson Christopher Tatum said.
Regardless of the situation, Celtics they were always confident in their abilities and eager for the opportunity to respond. For the last four months, they have been focused on the next game and the next opportunity. Now, they have the biggest: the final.
“I think it’s okay to enjoy tonight and be happy because it’s hard. It’s not easy, clearly this is my first time in the championship. We know we have a tough task ahead of us. They’ve been there many times, they’ve won many times. Tatum said.
(With information from CBS Sports.)
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