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Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON — There are 63 seconds left in Game 6 of The Boston Marathon. NBA Finals, Boston Celtics Ime Udoka’s team was trailing by 11 points. He waved the white flag, and he replaced his five starters.
Jayson TatumAfter slowly moving off the court, he made greetings to coaches and players of Boston, and untucked his No. After trudging off the court, he sat down on a bench seat and watched as the 0 jersey was removed. Golden State Warriors Celebrate their achievements fourth championship in eight years.
Tatum said, “It hurts,” after the Celtics’ season ended 103-90 loss. “Being with this team, the things that we’ve overcome during the season, getting here… just knowing what we wanted, coming up short.
“It’s a horrible feeling.”
Tatum and other star wing Jaylen Brown The fourth pair to become the top scorers on a Finals Team at 25 years or younger was Elias Sports Bureau.
The Houston RocketsThe Hall of Famers Ralph Sampson and Hakeem O’Neal led the effort in 1986. Anfernee Hardaway and Shaquille Olajuwon led the effort. Orlando Magic To the Finals in 1995. It was nearly two decades later. Kevin Durant Russell Westbrook Take the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder The league’s largest stage.
After losing to the Warriors, Tatum and Brown, as well as the Celtics, now have one thing in common: They lost in the league’s championship round.
This statistic isn’t surprising by itself. Teams often lose the ultimate prize in order to win it. Surprisingly, the third and final elite squads are also sharing this unfortunate fact:
None of those duos made it back to Finals.
After a remarkable midseason turnaround that saw them win two of their first championships since 2008, the Celtics hope to avoid another similar fate as they head into the offseason.
Brown stated postgame that “the future is bright”. “I see adversity in a positive light. It can help shape an individual. It wasn’t our time, for whatever reason. …
“It’s all about growth for me. Continue to improve, continue to discover new ways to lead. It’s all about that. The future looks bright.
How Boston should approach the summer
THE CELTICS ENTER The offseason was different from the previous three teams. After Sampson suffered knee and back injuries in the following season, the 1986 Rockets were no longer a contender. He went from playing 243 NBA games to 213 the rest of his nine-year NBA career.
In the meantime, the 1995 Magic and 2012 Thunder were both victims of many small markets’ annual battle against free agency. After being defeated by Michael Jordan, the Thunder and the Lightning, they were left with no choice but to lose to the Chicago Bulls O’Neal, who was in the East finals 1996, left Orlando to go to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Thunder traded James Harden Durant was traded to the Warriors by Durant in the summer 2016 before the 2012-13 season began.
Boston is, however, set up for long-term success.
All eight of the top players for the Celtics have been signed through at minimum next season. Al HorfordThey don’t have any rights to Tatum, 36. He is the only player they control and is older than 27. Tatum, Marcus Smart Robert Williams III Are all signed through 2025-25-26. Derrick White, Daniel Theis Payton Pritchard Jaylen brown’s extension runs through 2023-24.
The Celtics have also hired Udoka as their new coach and Brad Stevens as their president of basketball operations. Both seem well-suited for their respective roles.
This has led Boston to see the 2021-22 end as a way to move forward, rather than as a roadblock, even after it fell to Golden State.
Udoka stated that there is a “big-picture approach” and that a core group was needed to help Udoka in going forward.
“[I’ve] This was something we dealt with in years past, in the Finals and in the playoffs generally. It involved finding the right balance between when to stop trying, but also looking at the bigger picture and how we did throughout the season adapting to other teams. [and] different schemes.”
Udoka believed that Boston was constantly in trouble early in the season, and he continued to believe it as the Celtics turned the tide in January. The Celtics started to turn things around in February, when Udoka’s schemes for players were implemented. There were also some trades that went unnoticed. turn Boston into a near-unstoppable juggernaut.
Smart stated that nobody believed we would be here in the playoffs after Boston’s Game 6. “We’ve had to go through hell to get this far, and that’s okay. Do you get what I’m referring to? This is what we need to do.”
Boston posted the league’s highest offensive and defensive ratings throughout the regular season, finishing the year at 28-7. Boston has the experience and talent to win championships for many years.
“When I consider who are likely be the, [East] It’s the teams that will be running it next year,” said an East Scout. “I feel just as good about them as anyone else.”
THE FINALS WERE It was a difficult time for Boston’s cornerstone of the franchise. As the series progressed Golden State tried to throw a variety at Tatum and he struggled with adjustment, shooting just 36.7% from the field, and 31.6% from 2-point range.
Tatum posted 100 turnovers for the postseason — more than any other player to do so in NBA playoffs history. Udoka spoke of Tatum’s next challenge, “Learn to understand him in this league.”
“You are an All-Star, All NBA First Team guy because of that. This is just the beginning of how you will be protected and the attention that you will draw.
The Celtics were also exposed to their depth. They were blessed to survive the playoffs with no lasting injuries. Smart and Robert Williams had to be replaced by others due to illness.
However, against Golden State, the team’s reserve unit of White Grant Williams Pritchard was greatly outclassed, with Pritchard going 2-for-10 from behind the plate for five points in Game 6. Boston’s elite eight are seen as the best in the league, but its back end is not.
A Boston executive said that the bench had “a lot” of scrubs.
“[And] They still need a good point guard. Marcus is a great guy, but he needs someone to support him. [Tatum and Brown] Because they dribble far too much. They need someone else. Utah [looks to move] Mike ConleyYou can put him in there. “Someone like that.”
Tatum and Brown on the other side have made important strides, but league insiders insist that they need to keep growing. Udoka had started the season by urging them to play better, and both have taken steps forward as facilitators, despite having trouble with turnovers during the playoffs.
A Western Conference executive stated that Jaylen has a greater understanding of the ball and is showing more selflessness with the ball. “Jayson is showing better decision-making. He is learning how to be “the guy.”
Add the Celtics’ Finals defeat to the list of learning opportunities in a postseason filled with them, after Kevin Durant’s departure. Brooklyn Nets, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s Milwaukee Bucks Jimmy Butler‘s Miami Heat in consecutive series — Staring down road closeouts games in Milwaukee or Miami and living to tell it all.
While they fell short of an NBA-record 18th title and remain tied with their rivals in Los Angeles, There is plenty of optimism in Boston, and all across the league that the Celtics, under the leadership of their young star duo, have what it takes to win a return to the NBA’s highest stage.
Udoka stated, “That’s the message for the guys tonight: ‘This is just the beginning.’ “A foundation was laid.”