The Celtics were easy prey in the aftermath of their second straight setback against the Heat late last week, and not just because they faced the prospect of needing to claim four of their next five matches to advance to the National Basketball Association Finals. Talking heads rightly took them to task for failing to adjust to a zone defense that had them cough up yet another double-digit lead in the second half. It likewise didn’t help that their disjointedness on the court carried over to the locker room, with loud voices and overturned fixtures underscoring a level of frustration reflective of their state of mind; all the finger pointing seemed to indicate their predisposition to look back instead of move forward.
If there was any silver lining, though, it was the fact that the Celtics cared. Unlike, say, the Clippers, preseason favorites turned bubble duds following a choke job for the ages, they took the losses hard precisely because they were invested in their work and in themselves. And so they took no time to smooth over ruffles feathers because their frustration was borne of heart; they held a late-night meeting that, if nothing else, proved they were all on the same page and would plod on together. That they went on to do exactly as they planned yesterday showed their capacity to match their talent with resolve.
Make no mistake: The Celtics haven’t yet earned the right to look down on naysayers. They still need to take Game Four merely to even the series, no easy feat given the Heat’s relentlessness. Meanwhile, the alternative would be nothing short of disaster; aiming to upend a one-three deficit versus an irresistible force is akin to needlessly courting failure. Yet, even as they’re in a high-stakes staredown against supremely confident competition, they understand that they need only look in the mirror to see their greatest obstacle to meeting their objectives.
Through all the challenges, the good news: The Celtics aren’t strangers to adversity, and especially of the self-inflicted kind. And because they’re backstopped by an outstanding brain trust led by head coach Brad Stevens, the expectation is that they will, at the very least, be prompted to display their best from here on. They may or may not win in the end, but if they manage to give their all en route, they won’t second-guess themselves the way they did after Game Two. They won’t have to mimic the Clippers and come up with lame excuses. Instead, they’ll be at peace with the outcome; having held true to all that the green and white stand for, they’ll look forward to a bright future with their heads held high.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
