Fellows with a million smackers and nervous indigestion
Rich fellas
Eating milk and crackers, I ask you one question …
Are you having any fun?
What you getting out of living?
Who cares for what you've got if you're not having any fun?
- Are You Having Any Fun, by Elaine Stritch
Volkswagen is using that song for some new commercials, but it might be a good one to put in the bank for the Celtics documentary if they manage to win another championship.
Things haven't been much fun over the past month or so for the Celtics. There's no need to recap all the causes for their indigestion, we all know what they are. They spent the first month-plus of this season as Ferris Bueller, confidently doing whatever they wanted and getting away with everything. They have since turned into Cameron Frye, unsure of themselves and alternating between deciding to play good basketball or not play at all.
The closest thing an NBA team can get to destroying a vintage Ferrari is beating Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors by 40. The hope is that this moment can serve as the same kind of turning point for them to get back to the team everyone knows they can be.
“It’s hard to win in this league, you can’t take it for granted,” Jaylen Brown told reporters after the win. “It hasn’t been as easy as we would have liked, and I think that's good for us. It’s not supposed to be. … You can’t skip steps or details, and losing has reminded us of that.”
This is where NBA seasons really are at risk. The money and pressure to win can sap all the fun out of a really enjoyable activity. Groups of strangers all over the world get together every night to play this game with each other just because it’s a really fun thing to do. These guys get to do it under the most incredible circumstances.
“There's a joy to basketball. That's the reason why we play, even though it's not gonna be every game,” Jrue Holiday said. “Sometimes in those days where you're a little down or where it’s hard to get yourself going in the game, making plays for other people, getting the crowd to really have our back and all that really boosts your energy. And this is a little kid’s game that we do for a job to get paid quite a bit to do it. So I think times like that, it’s just really fun.”
The thing about the money is I don’t think it makes things more fun, per se. In fact, it might make it less so because fans want a return on that investment. When the Celtics win a championship, everyone in the city wins it. And when they don’t, fans demand answers and accountability. The championship or bust mentality can seep into the locker room, not just adding pressure to accomplish something, but to inflict boredom with the process of getting there.
“I’ve been through spurts of the season where I was trying to rush and get to the end, skip steps, and it resulted in us losing in the Conference Finals,” Jayson Tatum said. “Last year we didn’t get bored, we didn't skip steps … and we know the result with that. … Sometimes we don’t play as well as we would like to, and that can be frustrating sometimes, but I wouldn’t say we’re bored or anything.”
Boredom is like mold. When you see it, you have to eradicate it right away or else it can destroy everything. If a team isn’t finding the joy in playing this silly game, even with all the outside noise, then that team isn’t going anywhere.
“I think, a couple games ago, our energy was low, so I think I just wanted to go have good joy, smile, laugh, just get everyone going,” Derrick White said on an NBA live Twitter broadcast. “So, it’s just the whole group. Guys just trying to have fun, and understand it’s gonna be tough, and we’re getting the best shot every night. So, you’ve just got to enjoy it.”
Beating up on the Warriors is a great way to do that. There's nothing like sitting on the bench and goofing around for 12 minutes while the end-of-bench guys get a turn. Putting up three fingers to celebrate Jordan Walsh 3-pointers or raising the roof when Luke Kornet catches a lob is fun.
But so is the team flight, a breakfast together, and the bus ride to the arena. So are the nights in Los Angeles or San Francisco after a win. The whole thing is supposed be fun.
It won’t always be, and everyone understands that. There are going to be bad stretches that require a lot of work to figure out. Finding fun doesn’t mean ditching work, it just means finding those moments to stop taking everything so seriously.
“Pickleball, playing football, dodgeball, just whatever throughout the course of the season,” Tatum said. “We’re all adults, but we all some big ass kids. So just finding things like that to do.”
I know another activity that would be fun for everyone. A winning streak! I think they should try that one next.
Just a fun thought.