On Sunday, in a 114-94 thumping of the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics kicked off their quest to end a 16-year NBA championship drought with stellar defense, a red-hot game from deep and the sort of beat-you-from-anywhere-on-the-roster depth that can confound even teams as relentless as Miami.
It was a fabulous beginning.
And — no excuses here — they sure better keep it going, on Wednesday night in Game 2 and throughout the remainder of the NBA’s postseason.
That’s the crux of the task in front of the Celtics. They can win it all, and in many ways, they must. The next two months lead to glory or gasps, confetti or consternation, a collective sigh of victorious relief or the possibility of real, and maybe lasting, damage.
This is a must-win season in Boston. And all the tools and traps are at their disposal.
The Celtics are, by any measurable standard, the game’s best team: They have the league’s best offense. They have its third-best defense. It would stand to reason, then, that they have the NBA’s best net rating — and they do — but it’s more than that. They have the third-best net rating in NBA history. The Celtics roster could not be deeper, particularly with the offseason additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.
The team’s path, too, seems perfectly aligned — just the kind of reward befitting a 64-win team and the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs, East or West. This Heat team may be tough, but there’s a toothlessness there, too, given the fact Jimmy Butler will miss the series with a sprained MCL. The Knicks, Embiid-is-back-Sixers and Bucks are on the other side of the bracket.
The road is open before them.
Winning championships rarely comes easy, just as regular-season excellence offers no sure guarantee. But this Celtics team — so improved from the squad that two years ago lost in the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, and lost last year in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on its home floor — has no more excuses.
Yet worries remain. As does real, and perhaps impactful, pressure.
It was not quite a year ago, after that debacle against the Heat — the Celtics had fallen behind 3-0 in that series before charging back and then losing that Game 7 in Boston — that coach Joe Mazulla’s seat grew very hot indeed.
He has returned this season with a vengeance. But winning in the playoffs is another animal altogether, and the only true gauge…
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