The current group of Boston Celtics must trod their own path to success, instead of following yesteryear’s.
Paul Pierce argued in favor of this idea recently when asked what the biggest difference between the Celtics’ 2008 NBA Finals-winning team and the Boston squad chasing basketball’s most hallowed prize this season. Pierce explained to The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn the 2008 Celtics were comprised of battle-hardened veterans, but the 2018-19 team is stocked with talented, younger players who haven’t learned from experience exactly what is necessary to win NBA championships.
“The difference between that team (and the current team) is we had championship DNA,” Pierce said. “We knew what it took already. This team has never been to the Finals. How do they know what it’s going to take? So it’s a huge difference.
“It’s like the Golden State Warriors this season. They got bored with the regular season. We were older. We coasted a lot during the season and we knew when it was time to elevate our play and intensity, it was time to do that because we had championship DNA in that locker room. If you don’t have that, it’s really hard to say you can turn it up like that. But you don’t know what turn it up really means to be at a championship level.”
Kyrie Irving and Aron Baynes are the only players on the Celtics’ roster who have played in the NBA Finals. Irving appeared on the championship stage three times with Cleveland and helped the Cavaliers win their first title in franchise history in 2016. Baynes won a championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.
Pierce, who spent 15 seasons with the Celtics and was NBA Finals MVP in 2008, doubted in March whether Irving could lead the Celtics to the championship this season. A few months have passed since Pierce openly questioned Irving’s leadership mettle, and the Celtics have advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
However, the Milwaukee Bucks, owners of the best regular-season record in the NBA in 2018-19, are the Celtics’ most likely opponent in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Winning that series will be difficult for Boston, and any steps beyond Milwaukee will become increasingly harder to take.
Nevertheless, building “championship DNA” only can happen through experience, and these Celtics will try to do it their own way.
