Who knew at the start of the 2021-2022 NBA season that the Boston Celtics would be going head-to-head with the Warriors in the NBA Finals.
Trust me, even as a hardcore Celtics fan, I didn’t see that one coming. New coach, new system, players trying to find chemistry, and so many other factors that said otherwise. But the genius that is Coach Ime Udoka quickly turned things around for the Celtics.
“The energy is about to shift,” Jalen Brown Tweeted in January. And indeed, it did. The Tweet kickstarted a dramatic turnaround for the Boston Celtics whose record was sitting at 26-25 at the time. After the Tweet was published, the Celtics went on a winning spree, recording a 25-6 win-loss card, and beating teams by an average of 18.1 points.
Jaylen Brown credits “retrograde” energy shift for the Celtics’ season turnaround 👀 pic.twitter.com/RwJnOabDRr
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 4, 2022
From barely making it into the Playoffs, the Celtics battled through the East, winning the Eastern Conference Title – the first for Coach, and the majority of the players. As a matter of fact, it was the first NBA Finals appearance for the entire squad!
Talk about a complete 360. Cue in Drake’s “Started From The Bottom.”
Facing the Warriors in the Finals, the Celtics took an early 2-1 lead, only to fall to the reigning champions in Game 6. Despite the loss, many of us Celtics fans couldn’t help but be proud of how far our team had come.
Now, as the Summer rolls out, we look forward to the season ahead. New additions to the team, by way of trades and free agency, the Celtics roster got a much needed boost – considering bench depth has been a concern since the season ended.
Malcolm Brogdon, Danilo Gallinari, JD Davison, Mfiondu Kabengele, Luke Kornet, and Broderic Thomas, join Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart, Al Horford, Derrick White, Rob Williams, Grant Williams, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard. And I can’t contain my excitement for the season ahead!
October 28, 2022.
The Celtics will open their season with a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Milkwaukee Bucks. Even though the Giannis and the Bucks took the Celtics to seven games, Boston prevailed and proved to be the better team. Expect this game to be a thriller as the Bucks look to serve the Celtics its first L of the season. This game will definitely be a great test for the league’s best teams.
In November, the Celtics will face the Golden State Warriors, in a rematch of the NBA Finals. Look for the Celtics to seek revenge. It will be an interesting match-up – considering the team’s new additions.
Consdering the Celtics were one of the best teams to come out of the East last season, the pressure is on to maintain that caliber of excellence and play. As Coach Ime’s second season as our Head Coach, I’m also curious to see how he applies the lessons learned in his head coaching debut.
Taking all factors into consideration, the Celtics have a legitimate chance to be one of the League’s top contenders – not just for the upcoming season, but for seasons to come.
Oh, and shoutout to the other genius that is Brad Stevens.
Go Celtics!
