Kristaps Porzingis was not a fan of the Boston Celtics’ complacency against the Atlanta Hawks in a 120-118 loss in which they held an 18-point halftime lead and were up by as much as 30 — calling out the team’s urgency but curiously saying that he likes that the Cs are taking such bumps in the postseason.
“Maybe too much (confidence) a little bit, maybe we need to sometimes have a little bit more urgency,” Porzingis told reporters postgame (h/t NBC Sports Boston). “But of course we’re a confident team because of what we have shown, and we expect to win every game. It’s a slip-up for us, letting this game slip out of our hands. But I like that we have some bumps heading into the postseason.
“It’s the NBA, these kinds of things happen. We just don’t want to make it a habit and it hasn’t been a habit for us. We slipped one game, and we did relax a little bit and we paid the price.”
Championship is all that’s left for Boston Celtics stars
The Cs are chasing history in the final weeks of the regular season, currently holding the No. 4 net rating of all time. No. 1 is attainable, but in the grand scheme, achieving that without Banner 18 will make this team an even greater tragedy.
As Paul Pierce pointed out while speaking to Boston.com, winning a championship is the only thing the team wants; and the only thing that’s left for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to achieve to cement their legacies.
“I know it sounds like ‘wow, that’s a lot of pressure,’ but this is what we want,” Pierce prefaced before saying, “We only hang championship banners in here. This is the pressure we want in Boston, and the expectation we have in this city.
“You’ve got to understand: Jayson and Jaylen have been in multiple All-Star games. They’ve been to the Finals. They’ve made deep runs in the playoffs. They’ve made a lot of money in this game. I know that all they care about that’s left on the list is a championship.”
Ultimately, the March 25 collapse in A-Town could be fuel for a postseason run for the ages. Maybe it was the last great failure en route to glory.
It kind of has to be based on the expectations this team has from Cs fans and the league in general.
