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How do you spell RELIEF? C-E-L-T-I-C-S when they win.
Trust me, it’s no easy job being a sports fan from Boston, where the expectations of their pro teams are from Fantasy Land. I know, I have lived it and when they lose a big game, I am glad I live down here and not mope around for weeks like up there.
The Tom Brady Patriots won six out of nine Super Bowls in 20 years, but it was like murder had been committed when they lost to the Giants twice and the Eagles once.
The Red Sox won four World Series in this century – the Yankees have only one – yet the owners get mad when people claim they aren’t trying hard enough to win.
The Bruins and Celtics are known for having great regular seasons and flaming out in the playoffs. The Bruins have done that for the last two years.
Brad Stevens is the former Butler coach who lost to Duke in the 2010 NCAA title game and then decided he would try coaching the Celtics. He liked it and was pretty good at it, but then wanted to spend more time with his family and became general manager.
The owner, a Boston billionaire named Wes Grousbeck, called a meeting with Stevens and new 34-year-old coach Joe Mazulla a year after the team lost in the NBA Finals to the Warriors and then lost the seventh game of the conference finals. Grousbeck told them that wasn’t good enough and asked what they needed to win the NBA Finals.
Mazulla played for West Virginia where he was a troublemaking guard. Then he coached at two small colleges no one ever heard of and for the Celtics G League team. After the head coach was fired, the three top assistants left and Mazulla got the job.
They already had all-stars Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum, so Stevens traded for Derrick White and Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and with little depth off the bench Mazulla’s second Celtics team dominated the regular season with a 64-18 record.
They went 16-3 in the playoffs, won the first three in the NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks, losing Game Four by 38 points. Their fans were furious. They won the fifth game at home and will raise the franchise’s 18th banner, one more than the Lakers.
And now the Celtics are getting the Duck Boat Parade that all Boston championship teams get, and before the boats are out of the water, the fans will presume they will repeat.
What do you do with the youngest coach in the NBA who just won the world championship?
Easy, you asked him – and then expect him – to do it again next year. That’s Boston, a city that roots hard and is harder to satisfy.
Featured image via Associated Press/Charles Krupa
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
