The Boston Celtics’ road to the NBA Finals was anything but easy. Boston started the year with an 18-21 record and sat in 11th place of the NBA’s Eastern Conference when the calendar turned over to 2022.
33 wins and the NBA’s best defensive rating later, the Celtics have punched their ticket to basketball’s grandest stage, making it easier for Jayson Tatum to admit that doubt crept in about his role on, and the potential success of this particular team.
“I’ll be honest, for myself there’s been times where I’ve questioned, like, ‘am I the right person to lead a group like this?’ ” Tatum said during NBA Finals media day Wednesday. “I’ve never doubted myself, but those moments after some of those losses and in the tougher parts of the season, it’s human nature to kind of question yourself and things like that.”
It’s hard to blame Tatum. Boston looked dead in the water at certain points in the season, especially after Tatum was the primary defender on a desperation heave by R.J. Barrett that capped off a blown 24-point lead against the New York Knicks.
That’s the type of moment that could break a team, but according to Tatum, the Celtics have only gotten stronger.
“It was more so, like, ‘How can we figure it out?’ ” Tatum said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Man, we can’t do this.’ … There were definitely some tough moments, but I always remembered the fun moments, my first year going to the conference finals, the bubble year going to the conference finals, when we were winning all the time. The beginning of this year it was like, I don’t know if we’re going to win.’ It was a lot tougher than it probably should be.”
That mentality, of making things harder on themselves, has long been recognized by the Celtics and by Jaylen Brown in particular. It has, however, helped the team grow into the mentally tough unit that has taken the court and won three do-or-die games over the past two series.
Boston will look to ride that road-warrior toughness into Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors, with tip off scheduled to take place at 9 p.m. ET from Chase Center in San Francisco.
