What if we told you a week ago that the Celtics’ West Coast road trip would end with a 2-3 record, a slide from first to third in the Eastern Conference standings and Kemba Walker being stretchered off the floor in Denver? You’d say that’s pretty bad, right?
While “bad” certainly is an accurate label for Walker’s situation, it’s about the last term we’d use to describe Boston’s trip out west.
Regardless of outcome, the Celtics in each of the five games looked unrecognizable from what we saw for much of last season. Consequently, it’s become clear the Celtics very much are for real, something that rarely was said about last season’s team after the first month.
The trip began in Golden State, where Boston earned a 105-100 win over the depleted Warriors. Yes, it was a game the superior Celtics should have won, but the first game of a long road trip often can be a trap, and it’s not like Chase Center is an easy place to play in. Brad Stevens’ team trailed late, but Walker, Jayson Tatum and some heady play from Marcus Smart fueled a thrilling victory.
Last year’s Celtics? They would’ve folded the moment the Warriors took the lead late in the fourth.
Boston’s 10-game winning streak was snapped two days later by the Kings in a game the Celtics deserved to lose. Success occasionally breeds bad habits, particularly on young teams, and the Celtics allowed theirs to prevail in Sacramento. However, despite careless basketball and a sterling performance from Buddy Hield, the Celtics were centimeters away from winning the game at the buzzer.
Most importantly, the tough defeat served as a springboard for the Celtics to show what they’re really made of.
The Celtics took on the Phoenix Suns the next night in what would be a scheduled loss for most teams. The second leg of a back-to-back, against a good team, after losing the first in heartbreaking fashion? That almost always is a loss, and it certainly was for Kyrie Irving and the 2018-19 Celtics.
But Boston asserted itself in the desert, leaving town with a 14-point victory over one of the more promising teams in the NBA. An ugly win would’ve sufficed on such a night, but instead the Celtics won convincingly.
The overtime loss two nights later against the Los Angeles Clippers speaks for itself. Sure, they blew the game late in the fourth, but the Celtics nevertheless went toe-to-toe with a team many believe will be in the NBA Finals. Even if you’re someone who scoffs at the notion of moral victories, it’s hard to deny the Celtics were impressive in defeat against Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Co.
The West Coast swing culminated Friday night with a matchup against the Nuggets, one of the best teams in the NBA. For much of the first half, the Celtics looked like a team ready to go home: punchless, slow and turnover-prone. Then Walker got taken to the hospital at the end of the first half in a moment that should have been a death knell.
(Walker later was diagnosed with concussion-like symptoms and released from the hospital — a relatively encouraging sign.)
Yet the Celtics, who trailed by double digits much of the game, stormed back and even pulled within one point late in the fourth. They ultimately settled for a four-point loss, but the inspiring comeback in many ways felt like a victory. The effort, which was led by the Celtics’ veterans (including Brad Wanamaker), is something Stevens hopes his young players took note of.
“I told the new guys, the ones who are holdovers here, those dudes are warriors,” Stevens said after the game. “I mean, to come back in that game on the last day of a trip, after seeing Kemba go down in Denver against that team and give us a chance to win, they’re warriors.”
Coach Stevens: “The guys that are holdovers here, those guys are warriors. They’re warriors.” #Celtics pic.twitter.com/7N1Y7hL9VB
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 23, 2019
Reminder: This all happened without Gordon Hayward, too.
Celtics players and coaches have made it clear they’re done talking about last year’s team. But as this campaign progresses, it’s impossible to not compare this group to the detestable outfit we saw last season.
“Warriors?” That’s a term Stevens never would’ve used to describe the 2018-19 Celtics — not like they ever gave him reason to.
We warned you during the offseason. Writing off the Celtics after the departures of Irving and Al Horford, as most talking heads did, was at best premature and at worst downright stupid. This team is good enough to contend for a spot in the NBA Finals.
Whether they ultimately are good enough to knock off Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks or Joel Embiid and the absurdly large Philadelphia 76ers remains to be seen. Maybe size — of which the Celtics have very little — will win out. Maybe this team really is more fun than it is great. Maybe the losses of Irving and Horford really are too much to overcome.
Still, this season’s Celtics already have given us more positive things to talk about than the 2018-19 C’s ever did. They also are really, really good, something the rest of the NBA should deny at its own peril.
