Under normal circumstances, Marcus Smart would probably have been upset. Pissed off, even. Boston had a four-point lead with less than a minute to go and lost it. They had the ball with 12.6 seconds left and they booted the ball away without getting a shot. They took an early lead in overtime and didn’t make a basket for the final three minutes.
“We're not looking at it like that,” Smart said after the overtime loss. “Obviously, we wanted to win but we understand we are shorthanded, we played last night, we traveled, came here, called guys up. … It's tough against that team too on a back-to-back and shorthanded. It was a tough game, so the fact we did what we did and had chances, I'm proud of us.”
The Celtics played, well, like the Celtics. It’s something someone can say now and people understand what they're talking about. They defended, they moved the ball, they pushed the pace, and they won a lot of the 50/50 balls.
They didn’t do it as well as they have over the past couple of months, but they did it to the best of their abilities. When the Celtics are running Luke Kornet and Sam Hauser out there against Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, it’s about all you can ask.
“We've established how we play, who we are, and regardless of who's in or out of the lineup, we're going to continue to play that way,” Ime Udoka said. “From the start, the fight was there. I think we really got after it early, and late, and still had our chances late if we got some rebounds and didn't turn it over as much late. But as far as the effort standpoint and us establishing who we are and the way we want to play, they picked up no problem tonight."
This is what we like to call culture. Udoka, in short order, has established that in Boston. And any question about whether that was just a talent-driven phenomenon can be thrown out the window after an effort like this.
Because this wasn’t just a bunch of guys playing hard because they have contracts to earn. There's certainly some of that involved when guys get fresh opportunities, but this was also guys trying to execute the plan and playing within the system.
“We have an identity. We built that,” Smart said. “Early on in the year we were looking for it, trying to find it, and we went through those struggles. Now we’ve had a little success, we know who we are defensively. Culturally-wise, we know who we are and who we want to be. So to be able to have guys come in and keep that culture alive, it just speaks volumes to what Ime and everybody on this roster has done to prepare for that.”
Do it right, and building a good culture can turn into a bit of a perpetual motion machine. Udoka is doing things his own way, but he’s certainly borrowing from the Gregg Popovich playbook. Of course, there's a reason why he and Popovich hit it off so well in San Antonio, and why Pop lured him into coaching at a time where Udoka could have kept playing overseas.
It’s because the Spurs culture was a perfect fit for Udoka’s personality. There was, and still is, a genuine nature to what the Spurs have built in San Antonio. It’s a culture built on direct communication, accountability, and actually caring about the people there.
It’s why the Spurs are rebuilding yet still challenging for a play-in spot, and why they're rebuilding but still better than the Sacramento Kings. And it’s the reason why NBA analysts are, even in this world of blistering hot takes and saying anything just to get attention, still afraid to count San Antonio out of anything until they're actually out.
That's what Udoka wants to build in Boston.
It might seem odd that the Celtics are looking to emulate another team’s tradition, but they're really one in the same. Red Auerbach was a no-nonsense guy who built a team on the same concepts, and with similarly shrewd moves. This is just the beginning of the journey for Udoka, but establishing a culture takes some time. The mightiest oaks have long, deep roots, and those don’t grow overnight.
This can be seen as a throwaway game against a team that played down to the competition. You can boil it down to that and simply toss it aside and there will certainly be some validity to that.
Or you can see it as another step in the right direction. A team playing for its coach, defending with a purpose, following a game plan, and sticking to it on a night where it would be very easy to relax or play for themselves. If it was a child standing up against the wall, we’d draw a new line to measure his height a half inch taller.
You can say it’s not much, but it’s growth. It means something.
“We had to go through some stuff that we would probably never want to go through again or endure. But it’s part of it and those types of moments make you stronger for moments like this,” Smart said. “So the culture’s there. You’ve got tip your hat off, give credit to Ime and this coaching staff and everything they’ve done to rebuild this culture for us.”