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BOSTON – Experience breeds confidence in the NBA. And, for a young player in the league, there is no better confidence-booster than that of helping your team grind through a seven-game playoff series and coming out victorious.
Such was the case for many youthful members of the Boston Celtics Saturday night, as they capped off their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks with a 112-96 Game 7 win at TD Garden.
With their backs against the wall, the C’s leaned on a starting lineup consisting of two rookies, a sophomore, a third-year player and just one veteran to lead the charge. It was an unorthodox postseason core, to say the least, but against all odds, that group came out on top, four games to three.
Rookies Jayson Tatum and Semi Ojeleye brought a perfect balance of offense and defense – the former providing explosive scoring and sharpshooting, and the latter emerging as the go-to stopper against Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Sophomore Jaylen Brown was a two-way force, producing 17.9 points per game during the series, while also being a relentless shot-contester on the other end of the floor.
Third-year guard Terry Rozier took over for injured Kyrie Irving as the team’s starting ball-handler and showed poise beyond his years. The 24-year-old averaged 17.6 points, 6.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game, and surfaced as a primary leader for Boston’s mostly inexperienced core.
And finally, there was the one starting vet – Al Horford – who led by example with his hard-working attitude, while providing a dominant inside presence throughout the series. Being the only one of the group with extensive playoff experience, Horford was beyond impressed by the contributions that the youngsters provided.
“Being put in this position, at such early stages in their career with big responsibilities and big roles, I felt like they handled it really well,” said Horford, who tallied 26 points and eight rebounds during Game 7. “Tatum was great tonight (20 points, six rebounds, five assists), just very poised, took what he defense gave him. Terry (26 points, nine assists, six rebounds) as well. And Semi is probably the guy that we need to be talking about because defensively, we’re not able to do all that we were able to do without Semi.”
Horford, of all people, could grasp the significance of Boston’s young players grinding through a seven-game series, considering he had once been in their shoes. Horford’s first postseason experience was a seven-game, first-round series against the 2008 title-bound Celtics when he was a rookie for the Atlanta Hawks. Although, the Hawks lost that series, Horford claims that it was the most important point of his development because it helped him realize the intensity that one needs to play with in order to have postseason success.
Based on that knowledge, he believes that the Bucks series could have a similar impact on the growth of Boston’s current young core.
“They’re growing up, and this experience is unlike any other,” said Horford. “Being in the Playoffs, the type of pressure, the type of intensity – I feel like this kind of experience will shape their careers in the NBA because they see the level of commitment and the way that you have to play. So, it’s going to make them better players, and it’s all for the best for our group.”
It should also help boost their collective morale heading into Game 1 of the second round Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“It’s going to be big,” said Rozier. “We’ve got young guys, we’ve got a lot of rookies, we’ve got a lot of guys like Semi who’s starting now and playing big minutes, and that’s just great. So, our confidence is there. We’ve just got to take care of business starting Monday.”
The Celtics, being without their top two stars in Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving, know that the odds will be pinned against them once again in Round 2, but they are ready to put up a fight. More importantly, they know they can put up a fight, because they have already proven that they can prevail through a postseason series despite being so young and inexperienced as a group.