It was not so long back that many felt the Boston Celtics needed a major shake-up to their roster. The team was going nowhere and after being eliminated in the first round by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2021 playoffs; they were 18-21 at one point this season. The Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown duo was termed as a bad fit and the consensus seemed to be that they couldn’t play together.
All that changed in the second half of this season, however, as the Celtics roared back in dramatic fashion to finish with a 51-31 record. They then swept the Nets in the first round, eliminated the defending champion, Milwaukee Bucks, in the Conference Semifinals, and then they finally beat the top-seeded Miami Heat in the Conference Finals. The narrative around the two Celtics stars has completely changed and JJ Redick has pinpointed what he believes has led to it:
“I think, to me, the biggest thing that has happened this year, and it didn’t happen the first two months, it didn’t happen until January. They figured out that Tatum is the alpha, he’s the Batman, and Jaylen Brown is the Robin. And for a time, it felt like those guys couldn’t quite grasp that. There was a little bit of that young player ‘I want to be the guy, you want to be the guy,’ and they’re friends, obviously. Tatum talked about it on this podcast, he had conversations with Jaylen, they didn’t want to split up.”
While a lot of credit for Boston’s turnaround must go to their outstanding defense, defining the roles for these two was a factor as well. The camaraderie between the two stars was also clear to see after Game 7, and they will now look to lead the Celtics to their first title since 2008.
The Golden State Warriors will be a tough matchup, but we have seen this Celtics squad rise up to the challenge time and time again this postseason. They seem like a team on a mission and winning it all this season after where they were at one point, would make one of the greatest stories in NBA history.
