The Boston Celtics Path To The NBA Finals Is Wide Open

By Steve Atkinson

The Boston Celtics playoff run starts Sunday against Miami without Jimmy Butler. The Boston Celtics coming off a record-breaking season have a chance to really make the NBA Finals this year. Miami is without their best player, the Bucks are playing hurt too. There is no excuse for the Celtics not to win the East. There is zero real competition and really don’t have any until Denver if they face them in the finals. The Celtics should beat Miami in five games and even the Bucks. If they don’t make the NBA Finals this year then that would be a major choke job on their part.

The Boston Celtics Have A Clear Path To The NBA Finals

Tatum, Brown, they just gave a contract extension to Jrue Holiday. Brad Stevens wants to keep this going for years to come not just in the short term.  The Celtics know what they have to do the question is can Taum rise to greatness when it matters the most? He was hurt last year in game seven against Miami and in the last few year’s they’ve been the Buffalo Bills. Have great regular seasons they choke in the playoffs.

Joe Mazzulla on the Celtics chances in the playoffs

The most important thing heading into a situation is having no expectations,” Joe Mazzulla said. “It’s not supposed to go a certain way. If you study teams that have even been fortunate enough—if we’re fortunate enough to even get to a Finals, if not win it—the road there is always forgotten by the result of winning “There are teams that have had multiple Game 7s. There’s a team that’s only lost one game. There’s a team that’s had to come [back] from down 3-2. Had to go home for Game 7. It just doesn’t matter.”

Do the Celtics have the DNA of the 2008 Boston Celtics? That is the question they have the talent on paper but the mental toughness is what will win them a title this year. In recent years the mental toughness of the Celtics is lacking and they seem to quit. They can’t quit and have the bench to even pull through games this time around. There is really no excuse to not get to the NBA Finals.

It’s like when the Patriots had Brady and the AFC was wide open and they’d sprint to the Super Bowl. You need that one player to step up when it matters the most and Tatum really needs to be that guy. He can’t let the moment get to him this time and just go out there and win it.

Here is Jayson Tatum’s mindset going into the playoffs

“We looked at the ‘08 team, we looked at the 2010 Lakers that won the championship, and just how every path is different,” said Jayson Tatum. “The ‘08 team went to two Game 7s in the first and second round. So just getting us prepared. It’s not always going to go maybe how we expected or wanted it to go. But we gotta be ready for it.