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BOSTON – At its core, basketball is just a game, and we all know that games are about having fun.
Early returns show that the Boston Celtics and their fans will be having plenty of it this season.
The Celtics marched through their preseason schedule to finish with a 5-3 record, including three 20-point victories, and then carried the momentum into Opening Night. They trounced the Brooklyn Nets in Wednesday’s season opener to the tune of 121-105.
This game wasn’t just about Boston pulling ahead by as many as 29 points and winning by 16. It was about how it pulled ahead by as many as 29 points and won by 16.
Wednesday night’s performance was everything Brad Stevens dreams of. He preaches that attention to detail and single-day focus will yield large-scale results. It’s hard to argue against him after this one.
“I think that in the first half we just kind of kept grinding, grinding, grinding, playing hard, doing the little things right,” Stevens said. “And then we went on our run.”
Did they ever.
The Celtics didn’t only do the little things. They did everything.
Boston’s players, one through 10, took it to Brooklyn. They combined to shoot 61.4 percent from the field during the first half, all while limiting the Nets to a paltry 39.0 percent shooting performance. Things were, as they say, ‘clicking’ at both ends of the court.
“We just locked in on defense,” Kelly Olynyk said. “Everyone was working together on both ends of the floor and guys were making shots.”
Which is why this team’s style of play is so fun to watch.
The Celtics aren’t about having one player scoring 35 points. They’re about having eight players scoring between 10 and 19, which is what happened Wednesday night.
They aren’t about pounding the rock. They’re about moving it, which is how they totaled an NBA-best 28 assists against Brooklyn.
They aren’t about taking plays off. They’re about energy and enthusiasm, which is how they grabbed 11 steals and forced the Nets into 21 turnovers.
This is true team basketball from end to end. Fun basketball.
“It’s unbelievable how we did that,” Marcus Smart said of his team’s performance. “It’s fun to be able to do that with a group of guys and have an outcome like that.”
What makes the performance all the more enjoyable is that these guys genuinely care about each other, and it’s translating onto the court for everyone to see.
“We just have a great team dynamic right now,” Kelly Olynyk said, sounding as authentic as authentic can be. “The chemistry is there… throughout preseason, throughout training camp. Everyone is working toward a common goal. Something about this team is everyone wants each other’s success as much as their own, and that’s what makes a team.”
There’s nothing better than hearing that straight from the horse’s mouth and being able to believe it.
We’re learning quickly that what Celtics fans saw throughout the preseason and on Opening Night was no fluke. These guys are unselfish, they thrive off of effort, they play with speed, and they can light it up.
How do you sum that up in three letters? F-U-N.