How Warriors Feel Celtics Have Kept Their Championship ‘Swagger’
Two years ago, the Boston Celtics booked themselves a date with the Golden State Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals but failed to cash in. Even after taking a 2-1 series lead, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson prevailed, sending Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to defeat with thoughts of what could’ve been.
A lot has changed since that series. Thompson’s departure ended the “Splash Brothers” era, Joe Mazzulla is the clipboard commander on Boston’s sideline and most importantly, the Celtics are the defending NBA champions. The Celtics steamrolled their playoff competition with a 16-3 record, put Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic to shame in the Finals and earned their respect as certified banner raisers.
Yet, even with a championship ring on their fingers, Boston isn’t getting too comfortable after reaching the mountaintop just once, and the Warriors have taken notice.
“They’re the defending champions and they’re playing with that type of swagger,” Draymond Green told reporters, per CLNS Media. “… (Jayson Tatum) is motivated. He’s playing great basketball. He’s motivated. He’s living up to what he’s supposed to be.”
Green added: “I haven’t played them as champions so we’ll see.”
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It’s been over eight months since the last time Golden State took a trip to Boston, which was among the ugliest visits any team paid the Celtics last season. Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to score 56 points, Curry missed all nine 3-point attempts to finish with four points in 17 minutes and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr waived the surrender flag early before Boston trotted with a 140-88 blowout victory.
That night marked a stepping stone for the Celtics. Sure, they’d been competitive with Golden State in the past, even with their overachieving Isaiah Thomas-led teams of the recent past but never to a trouncing degree. Boston emphasized its overarching “Different Here” mantra by doing everything possible to defeat the post-dynasty Warriors in a way that would draw attention across the league. In the same way, Tatum and Brown have been able to punish the afterthought teams lost at the bottom of the standings, Boston’s All-Star tandem proved anyone — talented or not — could be at the receiving end of that exact same Beantown beatdown.
It’s only been eight games but the Celtics, so far, have shown no signs of slowing down. Wednesday night’s matchup against the Warriors will mark the third straight absence for Brown (hip flexor), Kristaps Porzingis is obviously still sidelined and Neemias Queta has become the next reserve to step up swimmingly.
Mazzulla emphasized the message of treating the season like any other. Had the Celtics lost in the Finals, the eagerness and hunger would remain intact, therefore, coming back as champions should make no difference in that regard. But from the looks of the eight-game aggregate, it seems as though the Celtics are even hungrier to hoist another Larry O’Brien and take another duck boat ride around the city next summer.
”They have that championship mentality still, coming off a championship” Gary Payton II told reporters, per CLNS Media. “They have that swagger still like, ‘We’re the champs.’ They’ve been playing like it and we know what they’re capable of doing. (Boston has) a good couple of few guards that they have and they’re going right now so it’s fire against fire so it’s gonna be fun.”
Golden State’s first of two matchups set this season with Boston marks the long-awaited Tatum-Kerr redemption showdown after USA Basketball’s head coach benched the NBA’s largest contract recipient ($315 million) twice in the Olympics. That implication — the elephant in the room — should light a fuse for Tatum, whether the five-time All-Star cares to admit it or not.
It’ll only take the latest Tatum MVP-caliber performance for him to walk off the parquet standing tall and with swagger, much like the 26-year-old did eight months ago at TD Garden, leaving Kerr in the dust.