Oregon is a long way from Boston.
Ime Udoka’s journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Northeast (hey, why don’t we call it the Atlantic Northeast?) has been a long one marked by hard work and harder lessons.
So why should this be any different?
Udoka is now 2-4 in his first six games as a head coach, taking a team with a lot of theoretical strengths and struggling to turn that into reality. The hard truth of NBA basketball -- all professional sports, really -- is that personalities, egos, and a whole host of other factors can conspire to slow, or even derail, a process.
Just ask the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Celtics are in a tough spot, there’s no denying that, but they aren’t stuck or facing some sort of existential crisis. We, on the outside, are frustrated by some of the similar issues which have plagued the team in the past. We get to make our snarky comments like “I guess it wasn’t Brad Stevens’ fault after all,” but the team isn’t feeling that same pit in their stomachs.
“We’re a good team and we're almost there,” Josh Richardson said. “I feel like once we get some more continuity on the offensive side of the ball, I think that hopefully we’ll be able to finish these games out a little quicker. Sometimes it's an adjustment period. No need to panic.”
Fans don’t want to hear things like “the Celtics showed progress” after a crushing double-overtime loss. You want that progress to happen now, just like when you scream at your computer for taking too long to download a video.
But the Celtic did, in fact, make progress. We just have to accept that they started out a little further behind than we wanted them to.
“We felt the defense was there, we guarded them pretty well all night,” Udoka said “We relied on our defense and just came up short when we needed a few extra shots. But if we shoot like a normal or less-than-normal night, we’d be in good shape there.”
Let’s be honest here. Considering how absolutely poor the effort was at times against the Wizards in Boston, losing a hard-fought game like this at least is a sign that Udoka’s message is getting across.
“We had a very blunt, direct film session,” Udoka said, referring to the team’s preparation for tonight. “Guys responded well, we had good energy yesterday, good focus today ... we have high character guys that want to be coached, don't want things to be swept under the rug.”
One of the preseason buzzwords was “hard coaching.” Players wanted accountability, and that’s what they got. Turns out, that was the right call.
“I think it’s good. I think that being a straight shooter will always work out well in the end,” Richardson said. “We were going through the film and there were some things people probably didn’t want to hear, but I think everybody just wants to learn and get better. Nobody was sensitive or anything, though ... Everybody’s really listening and taking it to heart, so it’s a good step for us, for sure, to be able to know that we can shoot it to guys straight like that.”
It’s already clear that nothing is going to come easy for this team. They’ve played five overtimes over six games. They’ve already lost time to injury and illness. It’s like someone spilled a bag of marbles in front of the starting blocks as the gun to start the race went off.
“It's another tough loss for us but I thought our energy and our effort was much different,” Jaylen Brown said. “Early game, on the road, team that's hot. We came out and I think we played particularly well, we didn't even shoot the ball well, and we still battled. So we got to keep that up ... I liked our fight tonight.
Lost in all of this is that Boston was shorthanded, going without Marcus Smart and Robert Williams, victims of a bug working its way through the locker room.
“I think we battled today for sure,” Richardson said. “I think the Wizards have a team who is gonna bring that every night. So I think that at the end of the day we battled well without a couple of our brothers. But I think there were steps in our identity today and we’re going to have to bring that nightly.”
No, it’s not ideal to start a season 2-4.
Yes, some of these issues are really, really infuriating.
It’s a lot harder than anyone really expected. Some of the bad habits are really stubborn, and Udoka and his staff have a lot of work ahead of them. Some of the habits this team has are pretty deeply ingrained in his players.
So you take the victories when you can get them, you teach the hard lessons when you have to, and you try to roll with the losses as best you can. That's where they are right now.
“I’m understanding of the habits that some of us have, tendencies we want to break,” Udoka said. “I’ll just continue to address those. It’s like parenting to some extent. They’re not gonna just listen to you the first time. Some things have to be broken.”
