{"id":36661,"date":"2022-06-04T17:51:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T17:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/amick-so-much-for-the-warriors-mystique-why-the-celtics-calm-should-concern-them\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T17:51:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T17:51:02","slug":"amick-so-much-for-the-warriors-mystique-why-the-celtics-calm-should-concern-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/amick-so-much-for-the-warriors-mystique-why-the-celtics-calm-should-concern-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Amick: So much for the Warriors’ mystique. Why the Celtics’ calm should concern them"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN FRANCISCO – The Golden State mystique didn’t matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s the part of Boston’s Game 1 win in these NBA Finals that matters most as the Celtics head into Game 2 at Chase Center on Sunday. They made the long trek out west after Game 7 in Miami, strolled onto the home floor of a vaunted Warriors team that has hogged this finals stage six times in the past eight years, and saw the legendary Steph Curry try to bury them with a barrage of 3-pointers in that historic first quarter, yet somehow managed to end the night with an empty-the-bench blowout win so stunning that Warriors fans went silent, and the “Let’s go Celtics!” chant from their faithful on hand was so loud that it bellowed into the back hallways of Chase Center.<\/span><\/p>\n

So much for the notion of the Warriors’ experience being the difference-maker. This Ime Udoka version of the Celtics, if you somehow haven’t noticed by now, couldn’t care less about the impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9s of their rivals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just ask Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn’s future Hall of Famers who couldn’t muster a win against Boston in the first round. Or Giannis Antetokounmpo, who gave his best all-world effort in Milwaukee’s (Khris Middleton-less) title defense but couldn’t survive the second round against this Celtics defense that slowed him down just enough to move on. (He shot 45.7 percent from the field after a regular season in which he shot 55.3 percent). <\/span><\/p>\n

Miami had no business pushing the Eastern Conference finals to a seventh game, what with their litany of injury woes. But Boston was battered and bruised, too, and Jimmy Butler’s greatness was the kind of thing that might have ended the Celtics in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not now, though. As one Celtics source shared afterward, this group has the kind of maturity and resilience that wasn’t always there before. Celtics big man Al Horford, in particular, spent the past six weeks routinely telling his teammates that this was the time to lock in and eliminate all distractions. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Brooklyn, Milwaukee and (most of all) Miami, the message from the 36-year-old Horford was the same: \u201cWe’re here on a business trip,\u201d he would say. No late nights on the town. No bad decisions. Don’t lose sight of the special opportunity, in other words.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if that 40-16 fourth quarter for the ages in Game 1 was any indication, they definitely mean business against the Warriors, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that’s kind of who we’ve been all year,\u201d Udoka said afterward. \u201cTough grinders, resilient group that we always know we can rely on our defense to kind of buckle down when needed. \u2026 We always rely on that. Impressive against a really elite scoring team. “<\/span><\/p>\n

You can tell a lot about a team by watching how they walk off the floor. At least that’s been my belief for quite some time now. It’s an inexact-science sort of thing, to be sure, but you tend to find clues about a team’s collective character in those moments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Teams that might still have that happy-to-be-here mindset tend to celebrate Game 1 wins as if they’re series clinchers, so I wondered what we might see from this Celtics squad that boasts four conference-finals appearances in the last six seasons but hasn’t been this far since the 2010 finals loss to the Lakers. Truth be told, I half expected to see the Celtics letting loose at least a little bit because of the way it had all gone down in <\/span>the fourth quarter<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, there was the kind of collective calm that probably should concern Curry & Co. Udoka connected with Grant Williams, who was one of the few Celtics who struggled. Payton Pritchard casually talked with assistant coach Will Hardy as they headed for the locker room. Matt Ryan, the ineligible two-way player who was <\/span>working in a cemetery a year ago,<\/span> lifted the spirits of his teammates by announcing, \u201cThat’s one. That’s one. Three more, baby. ” Assistant general manager Mike Zarren made an understated phone call. <\/span><\/p>\n

One by one, they made their way to the back with the kind of enthusiasm you’d typically see in December. Only Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck did anything that remotely resembled a celebration, briefly raising his fists, Rocky style, as he came off the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

A quick review of their devastating finish, if only to remind everyone about the specifics of the wild ending\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n