BOSTON — Jayson Tatum was granted his first NBA championship ring, after eight seasons and moments earlier than the Celtics got here collectively and added their record-setting 18th banner to TD Backyard’s rafters on Opening Evening.
Feelings had been working excessive for extra causes than Tatum may depend. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen reunited to hold Boston’s latest Larry O’Brien Trophy to the ground. 96-year-old Bob Cousy, in a wheelchair, returned for the primary banner-raising celebration in 16 years. Plus, the packed TD Backyard crowd roared as quickly because the workforce took the ground in its gold and white championship warm-up gear.
Tatum, caught in the midst of the long-awaited expertise, echoed a daring message to Boston’s followers at heart court docket: “Let’s do it once more.”
“I deliberate one thing to say however I bought caught up within the second,” Tatum defined after Boston’s 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks. “I used to be overwhelmed and I used to be like in awe. You understand, feelings bought the very best of me. I do know we not supposed to speak about repeating however the followers had been simply so excited. Like (expletive) it, let’s do it once more. However after tonight, we gotta put it behind us. We gotta have the identical method as final 12 months that we simply tried to get higher day by day. We simply attempt to get a bit bit higher. We’re not trying to June, we’re trying ahead to Thursday. And that’s our mindset.”
Certain, it’s a daring technique to start a brand new 12 months however then once more, the Celtics earned it.
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Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla preached the mindset of treating the season similar to every other, nearly as if Boston hadn’t gained the title, to start with — a perspective Mazzulla hopes will resonate with the locker room. Everybody, together with the Celtics, is engaged on a degree enjoying subject. After all, recency bias favors Boston since its roster was essentially the most proficient, gained essentially the most video games within the common season (64), by no means misplaced greater than twice consecutively and went 16-3 within the playoffs earlier than capturing Banner 18.
Tatum did his half, scoring a game-high 37 factors to associate with a game-high 10 assists, recording the primary double-double of the 12 months. Tatum’s offseason strives to rediscover his delicate contact from the perimeter paid off because the 26-year-old was a (very) environment friendly 14-of-18 from the sector and 8-of-11 from 3-point territory. There was nearly no flaw in Tatum’s efficiency to pinpoint and the season-opening exhibiting even earned him a well-deserved early clock-out as Mazzulla sat him for the whole lot of the fourth quarter.
It’s nonetheless extraordinarily early to make any daring declarations, however Tatum’s message, not simply from embarrassing the little brother Knicks, was absolutely warranted. That’s Boston’s purpose and it’s as much as the remainder of the NBA to problem the Celtics and strip them of their champions title. For now, the tedious journey of returning to the promised land continues as Boston returns to motion on Thursday evening to battle the Washington Wizards.
