The Boston Celtics did not come all the way to Florida just to get in some glorified practice; they are here to win it all, and they believe that they can.
In the team’s second media availability session of the so-called Disney ‘bubble,’ both All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum and outspoken center Enes Kanter made a point of stressing the goal of the restarted Celtics 2019-20 season is a simple one:
Banners, or bust.
“I think that’s the mentality you should have, Tatum explained. “I’ve never been on a team in my life — whether it was high school or college — since I’ve been on the Celtics that [believed] we should just settle for third place.”
“That’s why we grind, that’s why we play, to be the last team standing. I’m glad that we have that mindset and we have a realistic chance. I think we have the talent, the experience, the depth and we complete with the best of them. We strive to play defense and our mindset is just never give up. We’ve got a lot of guys that have been through a lot with each other over the last couple of years.”
“We hold each other accountable, we trust each other and we’re going to fight until there is zero on the clock,” he added.
We've got our eyes on one thing and one thing only: Banner 18🏆 pic.twitter.com/AJjuxKnf9H
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) July 11, 2020
This mentality is shared with Kanter as well; “We’ve got one goal man, just go out there and get that 18th banner,” he explained; “that’s the goal, and we don’t worry about anything else.”
“We had a meeting yesterday and we just said we just need to stay humble, stay hungry, [and] just go out there and do our job,” added the Turkish big man. “Don’t worry about anything else, it’s just us against the world, so we just need to go out there from so many people focus on yourself … and just go out and have fun.”
Kanter seemed very excited to get back on the court in pursuit of Banner 18 — but he also seemed just to be around his teammates again, playing his favorite sport.
Enes Kanter: “We’ve got one goal: just go out there and get that 18th banner.”
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) July 11, 2020
With no home games for anyone and the Celtics in as good of health as they have been since the start of the season nearly a year past now, Boston has a real opportunity to compete for a title.
Perhaps their best shot at a championship since the latter years of the Banner 17 squad, the team seems focused on the singular goal of winning it all.
Asterisks the least of their concerns.
[lawrence-related id=38452,38442,38426,38398]