Jayson Tatum was granted his first NBA championship ring, after eight seasons and moments before the Celtics came together and added their record-setting 18th banner to TD Garden’s rafters on Opening Night.
Emotions were running high for more reasons than Tatum could count. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen reunited to carry Boston’s newest Larry O’Brien Trophy to the floor. 96-year-old Bob Cousy, in a wheelchair, returned for the first banner-raising celebration in 16 years. Plus, the packed TD Garden crowd roared as soon as the team took the floor in its gold and white championship warm-up gear.
Tatum, caught in the middle of the long-awaited experience, echoed a bold message to Boston’s fans at center court: “Let’s do it again.”
“I planned something to say but I got caught up in the moment,” Tatum explained after Boston’s 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks. “I was overwhelmed and I was like in awe. You know, emotions got the best of me. I know we not supposed to talk about repeating but the fans were just so excited. Like (expletive) it, let’s do it again. But after tonight, we gotta put it behind us. We gotta have the same approach as last year that we just tried to get better every day. We just try to get a little bit better. We’re not looking to June, we’re looking forward to Thursday. And that’s our mindset.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla preached the mindset of treating the season just like any other, almost as if Boston hadn’t won the title, to begin with — a perspective Mazzulla hopes will resonate with the locker room. Everyone, including the Celtics, is working on a level playing field. Of course, recency bias favors Boston since its roster was the most talented, won the most games in the regular season (64), never lost more than twice consecutively and went 16-3 in the playoffs before capturing Banner 18.
Tatum did his part, scoring a game-high 37 points to go along with a game-high 10 assists, recording the first double-double of the year. Tatum’s offseason strives to rediscover his soft touch from the perimeter paid off as the 26-year-old was a (very) efficient 14-of-18 from the field and 8-of-11 from 3-point territory. There was virtually no flaw in Tatum’s performance to pinpoint and the season-opening showing even earned him a well-deserved early clock-out as Mazzulla sat him for the entirety of the fourth quarter.
It’s still extremely early to make any bold declarations, but Tatum’s message, not just from embarrassing the little brother Knicks, was fully warranted. That’s Boston’s goal and it’s up to the rest of the NBA to challenge the Celtics and strip them of their champions title. For now, the tedious journey of returning to the promised land continues as Boston returns to action on Thursday night to battle the Washington Wizards.
