Mentality remains the same for Celtics: Game 6 is a must-win
BOSTON -- It's closeout time for the Boston Celtics. They are one win away from the NBA Finals and can punch their ticket to the championship round with a Game 6 win at TD Garden on Friday night.
Let's not mess around to start Memorial Day weekend. Take care of business Friday night and earn some much-needed rest before the Finals. The Heat look finished, and the Celtics need to drive the final nail in the coffin and secure the franchise's first trip to the Finals since 2010.
The last time the Celtics were one of the last two teams standing in the NBA, most of the current roster was getting ready to enter their teenage years. (Not Al Horford, of course. He was in his third NBA season.) But Boston's core group has been this close to the Finals before.
And the agony of that defeat will provide some fuel for this core come Friday night.
That happened back in 2018, when the Celtics went on a surprising run to the Eastern Conference Finals. That team lost Kyrie Irving a few weeks before the postseason, but with a young squad led by a rookie Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown in his second year, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier, the Celtics found themselves up 3-2 on LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Then LeBron did his thing and led the Cavs to a Game 6 win at home, and then stunned the Celtics with a Game 7 victory at TD Garden. It was a game in which Tatum threw down a thunderous dunk over LeBron in the fourth quarter, and one that Boston had a chance to win before James took over in the final minutes.
A lot has changed since then. Tatum and Brown have both grown substantially, with Tatum tickling the realm of superstardom. Smart is now the team's starting point guard and bulldog on defense. And Horford is here after a dip in the Fountain of Youth to provide some excellent two-way play and veteran leadership. The Celtics have been the best team in the NBA since January, and the league's best defense all season long.
The tough times from five years ago, along with a loss to the Heat in the East Finals in the NBA bubble in 2020, has this Celtics team prepared to handle the mental gymnastics of a close-out game on Friday night.
"We can't think that it's over with. We need to go back home like we're down 3-2, with that sense of urgency that it's a must-win game, not relaxing because we're up," Tatum said after Wednesday night's Game 5 victory in Miami.
In the long and illustrious history of Celtics basketball, the team is 40-4 in a series that they've taken a 3-2 lead in. Some are already anointing this year's Celtics the champs of the East and are booking flights to San Francisco.
Tatum will not be reading those press clippings or making any travel plans just yet.
"This is far from over," he said. "We talked about it. We just went into Milwaukee and won a very big Game 6. So, know that it's possible."
The Celtics know that they haven't won anything at the moment, and are well aware that the fourth and final win of a series is the hardest one to secure.
"Nothing changes," head coach Ime Udoka said of the team's approach to Game 6. "For our guys, it's just one more step, continue to grind it out."
For this young core, getting to the Finals is a hurdle they've yet to conquer. And it's not one they're going to take lightly and let slip away like the previous two instances.
"This is a great opportunity. Leave everything on the floor," said Jaylen Brown. "You don't want any feelings of regret. We got an opportunity to do something with this group that's special, so let's not take that for granted.
"Let's come out Friday on our home floor and play the best version of basketball we played all season. This is a big game for us," Brown continued. "At the same time, you know, just breathe, relax. Sometimes it can be a little bit too tense. We know how important these moments are. But just come out and play our game and we'll be fine."
While Udoka is in his rookie season as a head coach, he's also been here before. He made it to a pair of NBA Finals while on the Spurs coaching staff, and played in a Western Conference Finals with San Antonio as a player. Udoka said Thursday morning that no one on the Celtics is fazed by the moment ahead of them.
"The experience definitely helps out. The motivation of not making it, of falling short a few times, it's nothing that's really talked about, but you can feel that inner drive to take the next step," Udoka said. "For these young guys to be in that position before, there's a calm about them going through this situation. Nothing's been said about getting to the Finals or anything like that. It's really the task at hand and being that they've been here before, they're ready for the moment. It's not too big for this young group of guys.
"I think our guys going through it before, but also wanting to take that next step in their careers and their progression, is all playing a part," he added.
The Celtics are coming off two straight wins where their defense threw the Heat in a freezer. Miami looks beat up and out of gas, while Boston's offense has done what it's had to do to secure victories. But the Celtics had plenty of issues in the first half of Game 5, and those will be their focus leading up to Game 6.
These Celtics need just one more win to reach a pasture they've yet to experience. They have no desire to head back to Miami for a Game 7, and are going to play like their backs are against the wall Friday night at TD Garden.
"I'm expecting complete chaos. Like we like it," Smart told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche.
