In the NBA and in sports more generally, the tendency after a loss is to look at what went wrong, and when the loss ends the season, particularly so.
But after the Boston Celtics’ season ended with their Game 6 loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens fielded a refreshing question given the context of his postgame interview:
What did he appreciate about his team in this most unusual of seasons, bifurcated by the COVID-19 pandemic with a four-month pause and finished in a ‘bubble’ in the midst of considerable social unrest?
WATCH: Jaylen Brown’s full Game 6 Miami Heat-Boston Celtics highlights https://t.co/nMIsrnXPHf
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 28, 2020
“I really appreciated the way that they played basketball year,” said Stevens. “I really appreciated the way that they competed.”
“I really appreciated the way they blocked out stuff that didn’t matter. I really appreciated the way that they inspired, with their voice while they were here. And before I appreciated the way that they empowered all the different NBA employees that work here, including Celtics employees and everybody else that benefited … from them putting everything they had into this, and then I appreciate the way that they played and found joy and stayed together.”
“We got one minor dust-up and it’s pretty good for a calendar year with a group,” he added, referring to the team’s Game 2 spat. “It’s pretty amazing when you think about it.”
‘We had our chances’, ‘didn’t take advantage,’ says Stevens on G6 loss https://t.co/t2x7p9sgAp
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 28, 2020
This team sacrificed so much, from time with family and loved ones in one of the more fraught moments in modern memory.
Players sacrificed participating in causes that literally mean everything to them, as well as countless personal sacrifices, like Gordon Hayward playing through injury and the birth of his child.
There is plenty of blame to go around regarding why this team is headed to their respective homes and not the NBA Finals.
But in the greater context of what they accomplished with their platforms, and with their professionalism — to say nothing of this team shattering expectations after losing Kyrie Irving and Al Horford — there is so much to appreciate about this team, and their 2019-20 season.
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