The Boston Celtics are going to the 2022 NBA Finals to play for an NBA-record 18th championship.
Let that sink in. Maybe read it again. Put your chest into it.
THE BOSTON CELTICS ARE GOING TO THE 2022 NBA FINALS!
Be honest, even through your greenest of glasses, you didn’t think we’d be here at Christmas. It’s ok. No one did.
But the true believers, the ones people like to call Green Teamer as if it’s an insult vs a prideful nickname for the most diehard of fans, knew it could be better. It was there. The team wasn’t as bad as their record. They just couldn’t put it all together.
On December 29, the Celtics lost a home game to the LA Clippers 91-82. Boston shot 4-of-42 from three in that game. They fell to 16-19 on the season.
That was the low point of the season. Even for the greenest Green Teamer, it was hard to believe.
Two days later, in a game without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns 123-108 to close out 2021 on New Year’s Eve.
That win over Phoenix didn’t fix Boston, but it got them started. They beat the best team in the league at the time and did so convincingly. Al Horford has said, “That win over the Suns was when we started to believe.”
Even still, a month later, at the end of January, the Celtics lost at the Atlanta Hawks to fall back to 25-25.
That was the last time this team even sniffed a .500 record. Boston won their next nine games in a row. They finished out the last 32 games with a 26-6 record.
Now it was time for the playoffs and it was time to face some demons.
The Brooklyn Nets dominated an injured and undermanned Celtics team in the 2021 playoffs. This time around, spurred on by this incredible play, Boston swept the Nets:
Next it was time to face the champs. In 2019, the Milwaukee Bucks bounced the Celtics from the playoffs and ended the short “Kyrie Irving Era” in Boston.
When the Bucks won Game 5 in Boston to take a 3-2 series lead, it felt like the Celtics were trouble. But this is Team…
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