There’s something special about this Celtics team
The vibes have shades of the Celtics ‘86 and ‘08 title teams
I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on yesterday’s game. The Celtics were flawlessly dominant, but the Warriors also just had “one of those days” (which Boston has had this year, too – though not THAT bad). As usual, I’m trying to zoom out and think about what this recent win streak means to the big picture.
I have to keep reminding myself that NBA titles aren’t won in March. Plenty of teams have peaked too early only to find themselves stumbling when it mattered the most. Just last year, the Celtics peaked before Christmas, but when the temperatures and stakes rose, they couldn’t beat the Heat.
With that caveat firmly acknowledged and affirmed, I must say that this team has immaculate vibes. Like, historically relevant vibes. Like, vibes that remind me vaguely of the 1986 and 2008 Boston Celtics.
The elements are all there that we’ve been talking about all season long. The overwhelming waves of talent on both sides of the ball. The buy in to team-first, play-the-game-right mentality. The focus that comes from understanding the moment and this window of opportunity. The determination that comes from coming up short in the recent past. All signs are pointed in the right direction.
Of course, things can happen. I am doubling down on my efforts to not jinx this thing. Any number of things could go sideways and there are other very talented teams out there aiming for the same prize in June, including the defending champion Denver Nuggets who have dominant vibes of their own.
But the Celtics are developing wonderful habits at the moment. There have been several games recently that could have gone either way in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Games that might have been nail biters or gut punches in previous years. Instead, this team has hiked up their shorts, crouched down, eyes focused, nostrils flared, and went to work.
We’re still a little under the months away from the playoffs even starting. The Celtics next opponent, the Cavs, could be in their path during those playoffs. The game after that is against the aforementioned Nuggets (who already beat the Celtics once this year). There’s still plenty of work to do.
But man, this is fun right now.
Eastern Conference finals is a matchup of season-long favorite Celtics and proud underdog Pacers
Beginning with Game 1 on Tuesday night in Boston, it’s NBA Finals or bust for both teams.
BOSTON (AP) — So much about the journey the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers have taken to the Eastern Conference finals has been about what – or specifically who – they haven’t had to face to get to here.
Top-seeded Boston mostly coasted to a 4-1 first-round series win over a Miami Heat team that played without Jimmy Butler, the player who’d tormented and broken the heart of the Celtics in Game 7 of last season’s conference finals. They then posted another 4-1 series victory in the second round over an injury-ravaged Cleveland Cavaliers team that didn’t have All-Star Donovan Mitchell for the final two games.
The route for sixth-seeded Indiana has also had some notable hurdles r
For the Celtics, that means blocking out reminders of the championship expectations that have hovered over them throughout the season.
“You just got to focus on what matters most,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said. “That’s your team. That’s each possession in front of you. That’s whatever your job is. … Just be able to focus the mind on what matters because it’s easy to get distracted or eluded from what the overall goal and what the target is when you start to entertain kind of everything that’s going around you.”
Indiana guard Tyrese Haliburton said the expectations they’ve had internally were always high.
“We had preseason camp in Nashville – just players, no coaches. That’s what we communicated from the jump. That we expected to be here. This ain’t a surprise to us,” he said. “It’s not a fluke. We expect this from our group. Once we added (Pascal Siakam) we knew we could really take off.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is fully embracing the idea that his team is the “uninvited guest” among the NBA’s final four teams.
“We had some good fortune to get to this moment,” he said. “But our guys did the work to put us in a position to be here.”
Offensive showdown
The Pacers reached their first conference finals since 2014 with an offense that has continued to put up historic numbers by pushing the pace.
Indiana topped the NBA with 123.3 points per game during the regular season, the sixth-highest average in league history. That was on top of it scoring 140 points a record 11 times.
The Pacers’ regular-season offensive rating of 120.5 was second only to the Celtics (122.5). That flipped during the playoffs, with Indiana’s ranking improving to No. 1 at 121.7, followed by Boston at 118.9.
Haliburton and Siakam drove the Pacers’ attack against the Knicks. Haliburton averaged 21.3 points, shot 53.8% from the field and 43.9% from 3 in the series. Siakam averaged 20 points, was 52.8% from the field and 40% from 3. It made them the first duo to average 20-plus points, shoot above 50% from the field and above 40% from the 3-point line in a conference finals.
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