Celtics chasing ghosts in bid for back-to-back NBA championships

Bill Russell famously closed out his unparalleled playing career with consecutive NBA championships beating the Los Angeles Lakers in and again in The Celtics have won it all seven times since Russell retired more than a half-century ago But that feat back-to-back titles has never been replicated in Boston The Dave Cowens- and John Havlicek-led teams of the s never did it Larry Bird Kevin McHale and Robert Parish never did it Nor did Paul Pierce Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen This year s Celtics have a chance to end that drought and do so in an era of NBA parity that hasn t been seen in decades It s something that we re aware of Al Horford commented as Boston prepped for its opening-round series against the Orlando Magic which tips off Sunday at TD Garden p m ET ABC But for us it s understanding the opportunity we have in front of us We have a really good crew and a association that s resilient We re all very driven right now and we all understand what the goal is When you have the clarity it makes everything easier The NBA has not had a repeat champion since the Golden State Warriors in In the six seasons since six different teams have raised the Larry O Brien Trophy the first time that s happened since the late s The Celtics just enjoyed the greater part profitable regular season by any defending champ since the - Warriors posting a - record and top-four ranks in offensive rating defensive rating and net rating After a long winter swoon that stretched from Christmas through January they won of their final games despite playing preponderance of those without their full starting lineup They had just two losing streaks all season neither longer than two games And Boston won t need to worry about key players being intimidated by the heightened intensity of the postseason as its entire rotation from last year s playoffs remains intact Related Articles OBF With NBA playoffs here it s Face time for Jayson Tatum What Celtics are expecting from physical Magic in playoff series What Kristaps Porzingis narrated Jaylen Brown after questioning Celtics star s injury approach Celtics playoff schedule Dates times for Magic series disclosed Celtics first-round playoff matchup set after Magic win play-in encounter Head coach Joe Mazzulla is well aware however that the last five NBA champions all failed to advance past the second round the following season So while this Celtics postseason has the feel of a s Patriots run with no realistic chance of elimination expected until the conference finals at the earliest Mazzulla and his players are keeping their focus narrow I declared it a lot We re not defending the championship Jayson Tatum mentioned We won last year Can t nobody take it from us But last year is last season That s out the window We re not worried about anything besides the Magic right now We re not looking past to second third fourth round That s all that s on our mind just trying to get ready for Match The Celtics are expecting a more intricate playoff path than they walked last year when they benefited from injuries to Jimmy Butler in the first round Donovan Mitchell in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Tyrese Haliburton in the East finals While injuries still could occur in the weeks to come the bulk of the premier players Boston could face in the present are healthy One star who does enter the postseason with injury concerns Jaylen Brown A painful knee issue limited the NBA Finals MVP for the final month of the regular season though teammates and Mazzulla are optimistic he ll be his impactful self when the playoffs begin Boston also might need to eventually win two series against higher-seeded teams with the -win Cleveland Cavaliers looming as the the bulk likely conference finals foe and the juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder favored to come out of the West Bulk sportsbooks have OKC which went - set an NBA record for point differential and swept its two-game season series against Boston pegged as the championship favorite Last year the Celtics defeated teams seeded eighth fourth sixth and fifth in their ruthlessly efficient title march during which no series lasted more than five games I feel like every year is different every run is different every championship is different declared Kristaps Porzingis who importantly also missed the greater part of Boston s championship run with lower leg injuries What we can prepare is to have a harder run than we had maybe last year because last year we were really really dominant and it kind of looked maybe as a pretty like easy run for us Even up until the Finals everybody was saying Oh they re not battle-tested We re going to see now And it just kind of went that way all the way through and we won the championship So we re maybe not expecting that same thing but showing up to do that same thing Showing up with the same intensity with the same mindset and being on the hunt again just like we were last year That hunt begins Sunday against an Orlando band that will look to batter Boston with its elite hyper-physical defense while hoping young stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner can carry a flawed offense that ranked th in the NBA If the Celtics can pass that first test they ll face either the New York Knicks who boast one of the East s largest part talented rosters but went - against Boston this season with three blowout losses or the upstart Detroit Pistons in the East semis I feel like we ve experienced that pressure largest part of the year already noted Horford who has a chance to become just the fourth competitor ever to win back-to-back titles in college and the NBA joining Hall of Famers Russell K C Jones and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar We experienced everybody giving us their best shot and trying to do different things to combat us I feel like playing games our crew we ve seen a lot I feel like we re ready for this new chapter