“I can honestly say to the best fans in the world,” Jayson Tatum said with a smile throughout the pregame ritual, “let’s do it again.”
In the ensuing years of playoff doom and gloom, Boston swept the league last season, winning 64 games in the regular season before cruising through the playoffs, going 16-3 to claim the team’s first title since 2008.
And coming closest to the team’s accomplishments, including a 37-4 regular-season home record, to the delight of the sold-out crowd, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck smiled and said they were “very good.”
“In a history that includes 23 retired jerseys,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, “now, this special Celtics team is creating its own history as we enter the 79th NBA season.”
As part of that famous history of the Celtics franchise, several legends from the team’s era were present: from Bob Cousy, who won six of those titles in the first seasons of the NBA; Cedric Maxwell, who received an NBA Finals MVP award and 2 titles; to the anchors of the last team to claim a name here: Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, together again and celebrating being the second-to-last Celtics team to win hardware.
“What an incredible night. The aura in the arena was incredible, having the legendary Celtics in the building… it’s almost like they were passing the torch,” said Jaylen Brown closer to the sport.
He insisted: “My rookie year, when I got drafted, this is what I said I would do: I would go to war for this city, and it’s great to see that flag being raised.”
People exploded at times during introductions by coaches and players, especially former teacher and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens; teacher Joe Mazzulla, who kissed the ground as he went out to look for his Silver ring; Kristaps Porzingis, who will be out for at least the next few months recovering from offseason ankle surgery; and Brown and Tatum, the two stars of the team who were introduced for the last time.
Later, with the rings handed out, the team’s focus turned to the task at hand: a highly anticipated showdown with Brandnew York, a team that hopes to do this season what the Celtics did last week, and made it through the summer. Getting some big names in Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Cities in a fight to make it.
“I mean, every time a team wins a championship, everyone looks at how they did it and what their personnel was and what their scheme was and everything,” Knicks defenseman Jalen Brunson said Tuesday morning near that the Knicks held their morning shootout at TD Grassland. “And so, I don’t want to speak for the rest of the league, but a lot of people saw how successful they were with their offense and their five-out and their schemes and whatever. And so, it may not be a carbon copy, but everyone “They will want to adapt to the new ways of basketball every time someone wins like that.”
