Toronto tough, so C’s no lock
I’m more concerned about Toronto than you are.
If Kawhi Leonard is of good health both mentally and physically, the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference will become an extremely interesting place. And don’t underestimate what Danny Green could mean to the Raptors, either.
CELTICS BEAT Steve Bulpett
It’d be foolish to just dismiss the fact they gave up a talent like DeMar DeRozan, but a shakeup of sorts was needed after getting swept into summer by Cleveland the last two years. LeBron James — their Freddy Krueger in sneakers — may have taken his talents elsewhere, but scars remained.
And it’s important to note that, even while there will be some different people lining up on both sides as the Celtics get back injured stars, Toronto has been a thorn in the Shamrock side for some time. The C’s were 2-6 against the Canadian club heading into last season, where they split, winning by one and 11 points in Boston and losing by 20 and 18 up there.
And what about Philadelphia, right? The two upcoming preseason games with the 76ers will be no great measure, but we’ll get an idea on opening night at the Garden whether their kids expanded their games.
So regarding the Celtics’ path in the East, in the words of the great philosopher Tony Montana, “That’s no duck walk.”
But you know what? It shouldn’t matter.
The point of this awkwardly long setup is that it won’t be as easy for the Bostonians as some in these parts are making it out to be. Yet there should be no question on the setting of the bar for this team.
Anything less than a trip to the NBA Finals will be considered an underachievement for the 2018-19 Boston Celtics.
Indeed, there are twists and turns between here and there, and if some of those twists are to the appendages of key players, then by all means this expectation should be revisited. But as they gather today in a production studio in Canton for pictures and promos and proper propaganda with the press, the Celts know what they have for a team and what it should produce.
They are too good to not be in The Finals. Kevin McHale used to downplay the deep dives into the greatness of his ‘80s teams here by saying, “We just went into every game knowing we were better than the other team at more positions. That’s all it was.”
The current Celtics are in that position now. They have better players.
But we’ll part ways with the McHale method to note that it takes more to be successful. The Warriors nearly faltered in the West finals against Houston by slipping into isolation ball, and even though they snapped out of it in time, they still might have missed their return engagement with the Cavs had not Chris Paul injured his hamstring and missed the last two games as Golden State came back from a 3-2 deficit.
How well the Celtics play together will determine how efficiently they can advance in the postseason — and, if all goes well on this side of the Mississippi, how realistic their chances are against the representative from the West.
A year ago, we were wondering how long it would take for a roster with just four holdovers to find itself. We were suggesting it could be a few months before the Celtics truly found their stride, and there was significant question as to how much the young people could fairly be expected to contribute.
Then Gordon Hayward went down, and with him went all the preseason theories.
What we learned on the ensuing journey is that the kids are more than all right. And as the Celtics embark on a new year, they find themselves in possession of three max-level players as dictated by the market (Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Hayward), another who’s a lock to join them in a few years (Jayson Tatum) and yet another who just might (Jaylen Brown).
A year ago, we wrote that the C’s had to make the conference finals for their season to be considered a success. Now we’re saying they need to go a step beyond.
After an interesting East finals against Toronto.