BOSTON — As the Celtics continue stacking victories as the league’s best team, they haven’t had many blips in their recent play. Not only are they on a nine-game win streak, along with a 7.5-game lead in the East standings, they continue to impress with the overall product on the floor.
As it turns out, Jayson Tatum explained how the Celtics’ mindset is different this year compared to last. A year ago, the C’s came out to a red-hot start and had the best record in the league. But they slipped some, finishing No. 2 in the East, and part of that had to do with the team’s mindset.
“I know we’re in first place,” Tatum said after the Celtics beat the 76ers. “We’ve got a comfortable lead. But like I said earlier, we don’t talk about It much. We really just try to get better every single day. It sounds cliché and it sounds boring, but maybe last year we rushed or looked past opponents and were just ready to get to the playoffs. With this year, we’re really taking it one day at a time.”
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It’s not too surprising to hear the Celtics had those thoughts last season. They were fresh off an NBA Finals appearance, plus they looked unstoppable in the early parts of the year. Other teams throughout league history have generally coasted through the regular season while turning it up in the playoffs. Even there, while the C’s got to the East Finals, they needed six games vs. the Hawks then the full seven games against the Sixers. That doesn’t include falling behind 3-0 to the Heat once in the East Finals.
This year, the Celtics have been all about the process as they’ve incorporated new pieces to their roster. While there are still 24 games left in their season, they’re trying out new concepts as the games haven’t felt meaningless. While the C’s are going to be judged on how they perform in the playoffs, they at least don’t appear to be taking the regular season for granted. So now they’ll look to keep that momentum up and hope their best play is ahead of them.
“Just learning from our mistakes,” Tatum said. “In past years, looking past opponents or if they have guys out, we might let our guard down. I think we’ve just done a better job of learning from those mistakes that we’ve made in the past.”
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