USATSI_18355653 — Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

From Outside the Play-In Tournament to the NBA Finals, Celtics Discuss Their Season Turnaround

The Celtics seized control of a season that was slipping away one frustrating loss at a time, surged up the standings, through the most challenging playoff path, and to the NBA Finals.

Author:
Bobby Krivitsky
Jun 1, 2022 6:57 PM EDT

Each time the Celtics advance to the next stage of the playoffs, it becomes more impressive to look back at the depths from which they rose.

An early-January loss to the Knicks, where Boston blew a 24-point lead and watched RJ Barrett bank in a buzzer-beating three for the win, has repeatedly been described as the team's lowest point of the season.

USATSI_17463508 — Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday, with the Celtics on the eve of their NBA Finals showdown with the Warriors, Jayson Tatum described their early-season struggles as "very frustrating" and "head-scratching." But rather than splintering, "it was more so, how do we figure this out."

When asked whether there was anyone he leaned on as the make you pull your hair out types of losses kept piling up, Tatum responded: "It's a group; this is a team sport. We lean on each other in those moments. As hard as it is in those moments, you've just got to come closer together."

USATSI_18391871 — Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

And while the calls to separate Tatum and Jaylen Brown amplified, on Wednesday, Brown expressed: “I will always have faith in this group, in this organization, and in myself, that we’ll be alright. In those moments where we lost, I knew that we had so much to learn. I knew I had so much to learn.”