BOSTON – As Celtics players entered the lounge at Auerbach Center earlier this week, they were greeted by a message on the television screen. Bold white numbers on a black background read: “0-0.”
It was a simple message with a clear meaning. Those 64 regular-season wins were nice, but now it’s time to reset for the playoffs. And all that matters now is enabling that first number to count up from zero to 16.
“We’re extremely hungry and excited,” Jayson Tatum said of the impending postseason following Wednesday’s practice. “We did a great job of staying present throughout the year, not looking past anybody or looking forward from month to month. Stayed present, and that’s what we’re going to continue to keep doing. Staying present, not looking beyond anything besides Sunday. That’s the only thing that matters.”
To get ready for Sunday, the Celtics are taking an all-out approach. They held one of the longest practices in recent memory on Tuesday. It was described as an intense, physically demanding session, which included some fresh drills to keep the players on their toes.
“We did full-court, no dribbling for two, three minutes,” Jrue Holiday said, for example. “That was one of the first drills we did, and I don't think we expected that. A lot of stuff yesterday was definitely to kind of get our wind and kind of learn how to play with each other without necessarily dribbling the ball."
Wednesday’s practice was more of a mental grind, according to Tatum, as the team covered various playoff-specific situations they might find themselves in during the upcoming weeks. They’ve also been watching film from previous championship runs, hoping to gain insight and inspiration, as well as recent Celtics playoff runs to pinpoint what went well and where they came up short.
“We looked at the ’08 team, we looked at the 2010 Lakers that won the championship, and just how every path is different,” Tatum said. “The ’08 team went to two Game 7s in the first and second round (despite being the No. 1 overall seed), so just getting us prepared. It’s not always going to go maybe how we expected or wanted it to go. But we gotta be ready for it.”
The C’s also have to be ready to adjust quickly at the end of the week, since they do not yet know their first-round opponent.
As of Wednesday afternoon, they have four potential foes – Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta, or Chicago – any one of which they could be facing Sunday. That list will be narrowed down to two tonight, as the winner of Miami-Philly will become the No. 7 seed, and the loser of the Atlanta-Chicago game will be eliminated. Whichever team loses the Miami-Philly game will then play the winner of the Atlanta-Chicago game Friday night, and the winner of that game will become Boston’s first opponent.
Regardless of who they’re playing, the Celtics know that they’ll be ready.
“I’m excited about it,” said Al Horford. “Our group as a whole is really trying to do things the right way, trying to play for one another, trying to play with that Celtics identity, and I feel like we’ve done that for most of the year. We’ve been very consistent in that regard, and I am excited about this group. I’m excited to see how we handle these situations and these moments. I feel like our group is ready for everything that’s coming ahead.”