They expect the unexpected
Throughout this season Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has stressed to his players that no two wins will be exactly alike. He wants the team to have an open mind as it follows different routes to success on different nights.
As the Celtics prepare for their first-round playoff series this week, Mazzulla has expanded on that philosophy a bit. The coach has shown clips and details of the paths of other NBA champions, stressing that there is no predetermined route to a title.
Point guard Jrue Holiday said it was startling to see the game log of Boston’s 2008 team that won a championship despite starting the playoffs by losing six road games in a row.
“That’s tough to win a series when you’re not winning on the road,” Holiday said. “Because if you get one on the road, obviously anything can happen. You can tell that they obviously protected home court, which is huge, but getting one on the road once in every series is cool.”
Forward Jayson Tatum said it was notable that the 2008 Celtics were pushed to Game 7 in both the first and second rounds. Of course, this is not an unfamiliar challenge for this Celtics core that has played in four Game 7s over the last two seasons.
“It’s not always going to go maybe how we expected or wanted it to go, but we’ve got to be ready for it,” Tatum said. “We’ve got to be ready for the unexpected. The playoffs present a lot of different challenges from game to game, and you’ve got to be ready to respond and react, because you never know exactly what’s coming.”
The Celtics have time this week to consider these things because they will not know their first-round opponent until late Friday night, after the loser of the Heat/76ers play-in game faces the winner of the Bulls/Hawks play-in game.
When Game 1 tips off at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon, 10 days will have passed since Boston’s starters appeared in a real game. So the coaching staff is doing what it can to keep the group fresh.
Tuesday’s three-hour practice was filled with intense cardio work. Holiday said that at the start the Celtics completed several minutes of full-court drills in which dribbling was not allowed. Wednesday’s session was more centered on execution.
“By the end of [Wednesday] we just wanted to be a better team, a smarter team, and just keep working at that,” Mazzulla said. “So it wasn’t as competitive as it was mentally competitive.”
Surprise delivery
USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill surprised Tatum and Holiday at their homes this week and presented them with their jerseys for the upcoming Paris Olympics. The 12-man roster featuring the two Celtics stars was officially released Wednesday morning.
“Sitting on the couch watching TV and the doorbell rang and it was Grant Hill,” Tatum said. “So, I definitely was not expecting that.”
Added Holiday: “It’s pretty random. I didn’t see that coming. I thought my wife was better than that. She usually warns me or something, but she didn’t warn me. It was cool. It was cool to see.”
Both players were members of the national team that won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but many COVID-19 restrictions were still in place then, so they were unable to soak up the true Olympic experience.
“I’m just excited for this opportunity,” Holiday said. “It’s going to be a lot different being able to be just more open, go to different events, see different professional athletes from around the world.”
Home court edge
Last season the Celtics were 32-9 at home during the regular season before going just 5-6 at TD Garden during the playoffs, which ended with a Game 7 conference finals loss to the Heat in Boston.
This year the Celtics were even more dominant on the parquet during the regular season, crafting a 37-4 home mark. Now, they are hoping that success will continue when games matter most.
“I think in the past, we just felt like coming back home we had the advantage and we were supposed to win, and maybe relaxed a little bit,” Tatum said. “Probably take the opposite approach that maybe feels like our back is against the wall when we come home, and have some better outcomes.”