The 2018-19 Celtics season was far from what anyone expected.
Boston was the favorite to win the Eastern Conference and many thought the team would hoist the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy in June.
But, as you know, none of that happened.
The Celtics were bounced from their second-round matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks in five games, there were a plethora of rumors of tension in the locker room, Kyrie Irving called out his younger teammates and the team just couldn’t seem to find its identity.
Even with the turmoil and tumultuous ending, Wyc Grousbeck knows last season is not one he’ll forget.
“I will never forget last year,” the C’s owner said Tuesday on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria” during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “There’s good years I won’t forget. I won’t let anybody else forget them either, the good years. But last year was a year that was frustrating enough that I’ll never forget it. But I’ll be glad to talk about something else by playing better. The only way to erase some of it is to step forward over the next five, 10 years and do something meaningful. It gives me all the more reason, it gives all of us all the more reason to get back to where we want to be.”
Grousbeck admitted he’s been “frustrated ever since” the Game 5 loss to the Bucks.
“During the season, it was definitely a difficult, frustrating, up-and-down (year). We had good moments,” he said. “For a stretch there, I was talking to Danny (Ainge) yesterday at lunch — for a stretch there, we were, statistically, the best or second-best team in the league for, I don’t know, (a) six-week stretch if you look at certain stats.
“We knew we weren’t the best team in the league, but we weren’t as bad as we finished. So I was puzzled by winning five playoff games in a row — sweeping Indiana, then winning the first game in Milwaukee. So I felt like we had gotten our free pass (from) the stuff that happened in the regular season. I actually thought, you win five in a row, you win on the road in Milwaukee pretty handily … I’m sort of thinking, ‘Well OK then.’ And then we lose four straight and get banged out of there, swept out of there. It made it all the worse. So I’ve been frustrated ever since and we’ve made some changes and change has happened to us.”
As frustrated as Grousbeck has been, though, he knows the future is bright with the additions of Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter and is looking forward to next season.
Check out a clip of Grousbeck’s interview below:
Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck joins the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon.
Text KCANCER to 20222 to give $25 to @TheJimmyFund or visit https://t.co/P2AaWPsmyH to make a donation. #KCancer pic.twitter.com/gciVcmOqbm— NESN (@NESN) August 20, 2019
