My son’s flag soccer coach has this nice saying that I’m completely going to steal for future use. When he sees youngsters hanging their heads, he emphatically tells them, “so what, now what?” The concept is to absorb the teachings that errors educate you, maintain your head up, and study from them for subsequent time. The main focus isn’t on the outcomes, however the strategy of studying.
This ridiculous Boston Celtics workforce has had so many “so what, now what?” moments that it boggles the thoughts. I gained’t bore you with yet one more season recap or a blow-by-blow take a look at every spherical of the playoffs. Simply shut your eyes and movie a second when the Celtics have been down or coming off a loss, particularly once they’ve been written off by the media. Sometimes talking, they’ve come out targeted, motivated, and at occasions, dominant.
They’ve accomplished this so many occasions, that the logical query isn’t “how did they discover that resolve to combat again?” The higher query is “how did they get themselves on this mess to start with?” It simply doesn’t make sense {that a} workforce that appears nearly as good as they do at their peaks can look as dangerous as they do of their valleys.
Which leads us to a different query. How lengthy can they maintain getting away with this seesaw act? For months now the reply has all the time been “lengthy sufficient to outlive and advance.” However that is The Finals and there’s no extra room for error down 3-2. The subsequent loss can be the final of the season.
I don’t learn about you, however I’m not mentally ready for offseason speak. I don’t need to dive into the narratives that can observe this workforce if they arrive up quick. On the flipside, I’m emotionally exhausted. So I can solely guess at how bodily, mentally, and emotionally exhausted the workforce is right now. The tip is in sight although. Simply two extra video games, so that you may as nicely again up the cliché truck and dump all of them out on the ground.
To me this boils right down to a quite simple system: you’re what your document says you’re. If this workforce is actually an NBA championship contender, they’ll present it by successful the following two video games. If Jayson Tatum is able to be thought of one of many top-5 (or so) gamers within the recreation, he’ll present it within the subsequent two video games. Comparable story for Jaylen Brown (who has been extra constant than Jayson in The Finals however nonetheless very a lot not constant sufficient). This very particular protection has an opportunity to go down in historical past because the driving pressure behind a title. But when all of them come up quick, nothing will likely be confirmed and most of this may relegated as a footnote subsequent to the accolades of the Golden State Warriors dynasty.
They will nonetheless do that. If there’s nothing this workforce has confirmed to us time and time once more, it’s that they’ve the power to bounce again shortly from losses – even self inflicted losses. That could be a very bizarre psychological toughness however it’s a type of psychological toughness. They imagine they will recuperate and win. I’m not going to doubt them now.
Celtics in 7.
