Gameday: Celtics need a win vs Warriors to prove they are legit
By Brian Foisy
The Boston Celtics this year have shown they can do anything, except beat the Warriors. Tonight’s Finals rematch against the Warriors is a major “prove-it” game.
Still, one might argue that the Celtics don’t need to prove anything, given their four-game lead over everyone else in the Eastern Conference. Despite a small 8-6 rough patch in December, which included back-to-back losses against the sub-.500 Orlando Magic, the C’s have been the unquestionable cream of the crop in the NBA.
A far more important measure is whether or not the Celtics can show up in big games this year. Accumulating wins, statistics, and building an MVP case for Jayson Tatum is all nice and fun. But come playoff time, seeding is far less important than the ability to go up another level and rise to the occasion in a tough playoff series. As I mentioned in a post last year about Marcus Smart, teams and players are defined by what they can do in winning time.
Celtics have no problem getting up for big games
In last year’s playoffs, for the most part, the Celtics showed up in winning time. The ‘for the most part’ addresses when the Celtics passed up a few closeout opportunities in the Miami and Milwaukee series when they could have (and should have) won both series at home in Game 6.
It also covers their performance in the Finals, where they did not show up. Tatum, who averaged a 19.4 game score in the previous three rounds, fell to a 13.6 game score in the Finals. He went from being the best player on the court in the first three rounds to being his team’s third-best and second-best.
On top of that, Jaylen Brown forgot how to dribble (or maybe the world realized he never knew how to dribble). Draymond Green got in everyone’s heads (both the players on the court and the fans in the stands).
The Warriors exposed things in the Celtics that brought them back to the team they were at the beginning of 2022, a play-in team hovering either just above or just under a .500 record.
Disappointing Finals loss needs to be a motivator for Celtics
In December, the Celtics were given an opportunity to ‘silence the haters’ and prove that the Warriors were a last-year problem but passed it up, losing to Golden State by 16 points. Tatum had one of the worst games of his season so far, shooting 28 percent from the field with a -13 Plus/Minus.
The Celtics clearly have a Warriors problem. More specifically, Jayson Tatum has a Warriors problem. Tonight, with Jaylen Brown still out with a groin injury, Tatum will have to play in front of a national television audience asking whether or not this team can beat their biggest current rival.
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Is he going to get pushed around by Draymond and outplayed by Steph Curry (or worse, Andrew Wiggins), or can he rise to the occasion and add one more item to his MVP resume?
Maybe we’re overplaying the importance of this game in Boston’s title hopes, the West is a lot better this year, and the Celtics have stood up to the other potential Finals opponents. They can get swept in the season series and still be favorites for the title.
But would you, as a Celtics fan, want to live with that outcome for the rest of the season? Hearing in every discussion about your team’s chances this season, “yeah, but they still haven’t beaten the Warriors.” Would Jayson Tatum want to be confronted with that? I doubt it.
Looking back to that aforementioned rough patch in December, the Celtics were multiple times outplayed by young and hungry teams who showed up against the front-running Celtics.
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The Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic employed the same kind of philosophy that the Celtics did during their season’s turnaround last year. They walked into a game where they weren’t favored and showed up. They hunted the Celtics, capitalized on boneheaded mistakes, and turned turnovers into baskets.
To win tonight, the Boston Celtics need to forget their record and place in the league and act like they’re fighting for a playoff spot.
They may not need to win Thursday night’s game, but they have to want to win it.