Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals everybody.
In fact, not even making the ECF is the goal.
To me, that has always been the floor for the Tatum/Brown era.
That is why I consider this the floor of expectations.
That seems pretty good!
The 2023 version of this matchup will obviously look a little different.
There’s no aging Big 3 or LeBron.
As long as Jimmy Butler is breathing, nothing is going to be easy for the Celts.
While he may be inconsistent at times, you could usually expect some very impactful Bam performances/plays.
Add in this magical initiate the Heat are currently on, and we’re set up for another war.
To quote Joe
I keep thinking back to Media Day way back in late September.
Both Tatum and Brown had arguably the best seasons of their careers.
The Celtics as a team had their most wins in a season since 2008-09.
Especially given how they talked about that pain to begin the year.
This entire season has been a collective mission, which is winning the title.
Over the last 6+ months, that’s exactly how the Celts have played.
That doesn’t mean they play perfectly or are without boneheaded mistakes.
There are ups and downs over a long NBA season.
Backs up against the wall?
But as we know, getting to the ECF isn’t exactly the hard part.
It’s what you do once you get into the Final 4 that is the real challenge.
Everything is right in front of them at the moment.
You cannot fuck this up.
That’s a 47 win pace.
It’s hard to explain, but 8 more wins feels so close yet so far away.
Do not look ahead despite being so close.
You have to stay focused on every single possession, every single dribble.
I don’t care about the talent difference vs MIA.
I don’t care about the record difference.
These teams are so familiar with each other, I can’t imagine there are any new tricks.
Can the Celts stay mentally tough when things maybe don’t go their way?
Can they take care of the basketball and make the Heat beat them in the halfcourt?
We’re about to find out.
All year the talk has been about getting back to the Finals.
Well here we go.
There are no excuses for this team to not make it out of the East at this point.
They are healthy, they have the talent, and they have homecourt.
Win Game 1 and set the tone.
