NEW YORK — The sting of this Celtics season is going to last a while, and not just because they were embarrassed by the Knicks in Game 6 to end their season. Jayson Tatum’s ruptured right Achilles tendon casts question marks on the organization going forward. Considering the C’s were already set for a transformational offseason, there’s a lot of uncertainty going forward.
But, for now, Celtics fans should reflect back on this two-year group. They were special. They accomplished their goal by winning the 2024 NBA title. They’re already immortalized for that. And, when looking back at this core, they should be remembered fondly and in a positive light.
Yes, there were frustrating moments. This probably isn’t even a conversation — at least for now — if the Celtics didn’t blow Games 1 and 2 to the Knicks. Old bad habits kicked in and the C’s didn’t look like reigning champions. That slimmed their margin for error, then once Tatum went down, this series was going to be difficult to win. Ultimately, the Celtics couldn’t accomplish their lofty goal of going back-to-back.
Most importantly, appreciate what this group did: They maximized their talent. That doesn’t always happen. There was no bickering or moaning about touches, playing time or whatever. Plenty of NBA teams are fractured because of individualistic motives. That’s part of being in the league. C’s fans are familiar with that when a promising 2018-19 season ended in a dud, also during the second round.
There was none of that drama over the past two seasons — that should be appreciated, too. This group realized the opportunity in front of them with a loaded roster, so all they did was work toward getting better. All you can do in this league is to put yourself in a position to win, and the Celtics did that for two seasons.
“I just love playing with the guys that we have in that locker room,” Derrick White said. “Just a great group of guys that compete at a high level. Off the court, we just had a lot of fun. And I think that’s just what I’ll probably the most proud of: is just being able to say that I put on a Boston Celtics uniform with some amazing group of people.”
The Celtics weren’t perfect. They lost in the second round to a Knicks team that executed when it mattered, and for that, the C’s only have themselves to blame. Then their injury luck turned for the worst as Tatum going down like he did also took an emotional toll. But the Knicks deserved to win since that’s what they did, taking four out of six games against the heavily-favored Celtics.
So, the Celtics will process how this season went over the next few days ahead of the offseason. Then the front office will inevitably get to work, whether that’s the draft, free agency, trades or whatever tool they can muster to upgrade the roster. There will likely be departures to key guys since that’s how the salary cap works. But this group was special — Banner No. 18 is proof of that.
“I told the guys in the locker room, one of the honors of my life was to be able to coach this group of guys,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said. “So you go down the list, every one of these guys is a champion, a warrior and they’ve done a lot of great things in this league. And it’s an honor to be able to share the locker room with them and be next to them on the court and be in the arena with them. So, I’m grateful for that.”
