INDIANAPOLIS — There wasn't a bottle of champagne in sight at this eyewitness report. A gray folding table in the center of Boston's visitors' locker room inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse was covered in beer cans and puddles of murky IPA. The Celtics are waiting to pop the corkscrews of those bubbly bottles in the next round if Boston beats Indiana, 105-102, in Game 4 on Monday night to win its 18th championship in franchise history.
“We know what we have to do and we're going to stay focused and do whatever it takes to get four more wins,” Derrick White said after the Celtics' do-it-all guard made a game-winning 3-pointer with 45 seconds left.
Still, staff and players posed in front of the Eastern Conference Finals trophy, named for Celtics great Bob Cousy. They belted out Drake lyrics playing through giant JBL speakers. Boston reserve shooter Sam Hauser used scissors to poke a hole in the bottom of a beer can and, together with the equipment manager, shotgunned it into the can. And then one more. Kristaps Porzingis, who has been out since the first round with a calf injury, calmly poured himself a Corona into a white paper cup. Luke Kornet, who sprained his left wrist in Game 2, grabbed a Kona Big Wave beer before heading out the door.
Despite lacking 14 feet of offensive power in the frontcourt, Boston weathered two crucial games in Indiana with exemplary execution when every little factor mattered most. Players and staff believe this team is an evolution from the one that reached the Finals stage two years ago, when the Warriors stormed back from a 2-1 lead against Golden State and Stephen Curry clinched his fourth championship. Porzingis is expected to be ready in time for Boston's likely game against Dallas on June 6, more than a week away. Jrue Holiday proved he was worth every piece of the significant package Boston traded to Portland for the veteran's services.
But Boston seems to think the difference isn't just who's wearing the Celtics' traditional green uniforms. “I think we just put everything we learned into practice,” Jayson Tatum said.
“The time's gone,” Jaylen Brown said, “and the experience's gone, and I think we're ready to play our best.”
Boston was down 18 points midway through the third quarter of Game 3, but closed out the game with a 13-2 run and a great team performance. On Monday, the Celtics held Indiana to just 19 points in the fourth quarter and the Pacers were held scoreless with 3:33 left in Game 4. Derrick White credited Boston's consistency in those crucial offensive runs to the careful habits coach Joe Mazzulla instilled during each training session at the Red Auerbach Center.
“It starts with practice,” White said, “and what Joe loves to call 'Championship Station.'”
Mazzulla prepares a variety of drills at each basket around the parquet floors just off Massachusetts Pike. Sometimes he focuses on mundane details like inbounding the ball. Other times he does box-out drills he learned during two days of high school practice. “I try to pick up the little things that I see every night that can affect whether we win or lose,” Mazzulla says. “Then I practice them over and over again until it becomes second nature.”
“It's the little things that we talk about that add up to winning championships,” Tatum said.
Maybe that's part of what Brad Stevens, now Boston's president of basketball operations, saw in Mazzulla when he named the 35-year-old Mazzulla interim head coach of the illustrious franchise just before the start of the 2022-23 season after Ime Udoka was suspended and led Boston into uncharted territory in the season following its last Finals appearance.
When Stevens, 36, took over from Butler on the Celtics sideline, he brought meticulous attention to detail, got his players on his side, drilled them into specific endgame situations, and had each player in five positions for each action, always ready for every angle and possibility. When Boston returned to its first practice after clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference this season, Mazzulla put his players through what he called a “playoff training camp.” In a morning that coach Al Horford called the toughest workout the Celtics had seen in the preseason, the coach tasked his players with tasks like playing three minutes full-court without dribbling.
They have eight more days to prepare for the next step, which will see them leave the arena around midnight to board a charter plane bound for Boston. Brown's bag will be a little heavier thanks to the Eastern Conference Finals MVP trophy, named after Celtics great Larry Bird.
“I think I'm one of the best wings and guards in the game. I think I've stepped up a level this year and gotten even better. I won matchups, I got guys all over the court, I got after guys off screens, I fought big men. I think I should have been an All-Defensive selection,” Brown said.
He made a dive block on Andrew Nembard with 1:05 left, but topped it off with a driving pass on the next attempt that drew a crowd in the paint and the All-Star then tipped White for the game-winning assist in the right corner.
“I pride myself on being a versatile two-way wing and I can do both at any given time,” Brown said, “and you could see that in the last four minutes of this game.”
He scored 10 points in the final frame, giving him a team-high 29 points. Tatum added 26 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists and earned four of the nine other media votes for MVP. These two stars have steadily grown from boys to men, from prospects to playoff contenders. Now, more than ever, they seem ready to finally cross the finish line together.
