The Boston Celtics not only spent the offseason improving, re-tooling and resting before re-embarking, this time on repeat NBA Finals run as reigning champs. The team also made a few enemies along the way, adding fuel to an already motivated team that's proven itself capable of reaching the mountaintop.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had their eyes set on representing Team USA in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, but those plans didn't plan out for either of the two. Tatum joined LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, but registered two DNPs after USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr didn't deem Tatum serviceable enough, even during the semifinals against Nikola Jokić and Serbia. Meanwhile, Brown was completely overlooked after Team USA instead recruited Celtics teammate Derrick White to replace an injured Kawhi Leonard on the roster, leaving Brown rejected.
"They're going to go about it the way that (they want to next season)," Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told John Karalis on the "Locked On Celtics" podcast. "They're two competitors and they are who they are. They're two great, great players. So I'm not going to try to figure out how they're going to go about it. If they want to take revenge on that particular game, that's great for them. Like I said, my No. 1 job is to -- I gotta grow as a coach, I gotta get better so that I can get them better and help them get better, and be a catalyst for growth. Revenge is healthy and it's not at the same time. I think -- just like anything else -- you can have a little bit of it, but I think it's a short-term thing, and when that runs out what are you gonna rely on?"
Tatum and Brown will square off against Kerr's limping Golden State Warriors -- the last team to repeat as NBA champions -- first on Nov. 6 at TD Garden and then again on Jan. 20 at Chase Center. The last time both 2022 Finals foes met, Boston beat the brakes off Golden State in a 140-88 blowout on March 3. The Warriors pulled Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green for the entirety of the second half to save the embarrassment of being picked apart like a less-respected high school junior varsity team. Tatum and Brown combined for 56 points and earned themselves an early clock out from work in the third quarter.
Now, with Thompson gone -- ending the "Splash Brothers" era -- and the organization's biggest offseason moves being the acquisitions of De'Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson, the talent gap between Boston and Golden State remains where it was left last season -- barely touched. This time, however, Tatum and Brown have a reason to destroy Kerr's Warriors again and exploit his coaching as opponents did throughout the Olympics, and this time, Kerr won't have a multiple future Hall of Famers to bail him out.
Instead, Tatum and Brown can hand deliver a rude awakening to Kerr, the same way the Celtics did amid their record-setting run of 17 regular season 25-point "Gino Time" worthy blowouts -- something Kerr and others should be mindful of.
