This was for the best.
As the Celtics wound down their regular season with a string of ulcer-inducing losses, many of us lamented Boston’s missed opportunity to put themselves in position to make a run. Even looking at it now, things are actually working out the way we would have hoped.
New York looks shook, and a first-round matchup against them might have gone Boston’s way. Joel Embiid is now dealing with a knee issue, which makes the Philadelphia 76ers look vulnerable. There was a path there for Boston to maybe shock a lot of people.
But in reality, this was the better result. A run would have masked too much. Beating a Knicks team that is struggling with the playoff spotlight and an injured Sixers team would have been a nice palate cleanser after a rough regular season, but this is a taste that needs to linger in the Celtics mouths.
“We had moments where we didn’t meet the moment with whoever was available, like maybe we have in the past,” Brad Stevens said after the Celtics were eliminated. “And that’s probably the most disappointing part of our midseason, but we got better with that as the year went on.”
A gentleman’s sweep at the hands of the very potent Brooklyn Nets provided some opportunity for the Celtics to see their true selves, and for the youngest of the young C’s to see in front of them the level of basketball they need to achieve.
“I thought Romeo (Langford) was great tonight and showed signs kind of throughout the course of the last few games that he can build off of heading into the summer,” Stevens said.
Langford could be a key player for this team moving forward. It took him a while to get right after the wrist surgery and the bout with COVID-19, but he’s finally shown something tangible. Now he’s going to get what he didn’t have after his rookie season: a full offseason.
That goes for the team’s rookies, too, who have now seen the worst and toughest the league has to offer.
“It's not the season we hoped for, that we envisioned coming together at the start of it, but there was a lot of things we had to deal with and try to overcome,” Jayson Tatum said. “I like the way that the first- and second-year guys played all season. Payton (Pritchard), Grant (Williams), Aaron (Nesmith) later in the season.”
All three of them learned extraordinary lessons against the Nets. Pritchard will work on his defensive principles, Williams will learn how to expand his game and play more than one position, and Nesmith will learn how to harness his energy and defend.
They all had a five-game crash course against the elite and saw what it really means to be the best. After a reset, they can start working on their summer homework.
“They need to get away. Anybody needs to get away for a little bit. But then they need to put in a great offseason of work,” Stevens said. “All those guys (need to work hard). All of our players do, period. But specifically those younger guys because they saw the level they have to meet. And that’s a real level.”
It’s not just the youth that was impacted. Reality hit Tatum, too. A series like this is a good reminder that he can’t do everything himself. When the team is (we hope) fully healthy next season, Tatum will know that he needs to raise the level of everyone’s game if they’re going to help him when defenses focus on him in the playoffs. He and Jaylen Brown need work with each other to become the kind of combination that knocked this Celtics team out of the playoffs.
“It’s a learning experience that myself and everybody else could take with them the rest of their careers and learn a lot from this,” Tatum said.
And that’s the hope for these Celtics; that the ashes from this scorched season will ultimately provide the fertilizer for new basketball life next season. There is always opportunity in everything, even at times like this.
Brooklyn wasn’t really Boston’s opponent this series, they were Boston’s goal. A team with massive star power, some incredible role players, and depth. Danny Ainge will do what he can to add to this roster over the next few months, but these players now have a full appreciation of how far they need to go to do their part in making this team into a contender.
“Jayson went to another level again. I don’t know how many more levels you can go to,” Stevens said. “So there’s a lot of encouraging signs, encouraging things, but there’s also the reality that we have to improve.”