That the Boston Celtics are .500 at this point this season certainly does not seem to worry Tristan Thompson.
Thompson, a first-year Celtic with an NBA Championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, expressed that rather clearly with an expletive-filled response after Wednesday’s 101-99 win over the New York Knicks at TD Garden.
“The first thing I would say is that winning games in the regular season to me, they matter. But I really think it’s a bunch of (expletive),” Thompson said on a postgame video conference. “Because I’ve been on teams that, my final good year in Cleveland, we finished fourth and we kind of did it on purpose because we wanted to stay fresh. Being a top-four seed, being No. 3 seed, being No. 1 seed — let’s be real — I think it was three out of the four years we made the finals we never were a No. 1 seed.
“… So that (expletive) don’t really matter to me. That don’t matter to me. My whole thing is just being healthy when it matters. Of course, for us, we haven’t had a healthy squad. … So I think regular season matters in terms of just building chemistry but that (expletive) is out the window when you get to playoffs. It’s all about matchups. It’s all about matchups. … As long as you’re healthy and you can match up with the team, you can win. Anything is possible.”
It’s probably good Thompson thinks that seeing how the 26-26 Celtics are the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference with Wednesday’s win over the No. 8 seeded Knicks. The Celtics would play the Philadelphia 76ers, who they lost to Tuesday, if the postseason started now.
