Is it attainable that the Celtics are simply too good?
After Boston totally washed the ballyhooed new-look Knicks below a deluge of deep-cleaning threes, it’s honest to surprise the place the regular-season drama will come from. Can anyone cease Boston’s imply, inexperienced machine?
“It’s solely been one recreation,” I hear you saying. “Loosen up!”
However that’s not strictly true. That is principally the identical staff as final yr, one which led the league with 30 wins of 15+ factors, 9 greater than final yr’s second-place staff (the Knicks, mockingly), set the report for offensive score, and steamrolled each opponent within the playoffs. It was superior final yr, when Boston needed to implement their system and show it might climb the mountain; now, it feels anticipated. Pedestrian. Inevitable.
And inevitability, that lack of uncertainty, can result in disengagement, even boredom, till the stakes are greater.
Some folks frightened {that a} championship hangover would possibly result in extra lackadaisical effort, however what if the other is true? What if, free from the burden of expectations, the Celtics can play looser and freer than ever? What if Joe Mazzulla and his workers spent one other summer time tinkering below the hood and discovered a strategy to rev Boston’s engine even greater? What if this staff by no means loses once more?
Okay, clearly, the Celtics will lose once more. Is perhaps as quickly as subsequent recreation (though I definitely wouldn’t guess on the rebuilding and horrible Washington Wizards)! But when they win 65+ video games this yr, and 40 of them are demolition derbies by which the Celtics are the monster truck, there’s a threat that the informal fan tunes out till the playoffs. It’s arduous to think about proper now, using the highs of Opening Night time and the ring ceremony, however there’s some extent at which blowouts turn out to be lower than must-see TV.
As a author, my creativity will probably be pushed to its limits. I must get away the thesaurus to search out new methods to say “nice,” “unstoppable,” and “juggernautian.”
So as to add some drama to this season, significantly for the non-die-hards, we’ll must set some new, smaller objectives. Will Payton Pritchard earn Sixth Man of the Yr? (Not if he retains taking pictures 1-for-10 from the sector!) When (not if, when) will the Celtics hit 30 three-pointers? Can Boston match the Lakers with an NBA Cup micro-banner (Sure, I very a lot need Boston to go for the NBA Cup)? Can they make a push for 74 wins?
It’s arduous to think about a 70-plus-win staff in a league that more and more values well being and looking out on the lengthy image. And it’s unlikelier than ever, due to the excessive variance that heavy doses of three-point taking pictures create in dangerous and good groups alike. But it surely certain could be enjoyable to chase in a daily season that already appears like enjoying on straightforward mode!
I’m solely being half-serious, after all. Possibly three-quarters. Boston will lose a couple of video games. Accidents might occur. And there are questions outdoors New England price taking note of: What do retooled Philly and Milwaukee groups seem like? How a lot have the Thunder, Boston West, developed? Can anybody problem Purple Panda because the halftime leisure GOAT?
Nonetheless, for the Celtics, this common season already appears like a preseason to the actual season. We would want some shorter-term objectives to liven issues up.
(Please don’t present this to non-Celtics followers; I don’t suppose they might admire it.)
