When the Celtics returned to the Auerbach Center following a 64-win regular season, a message awaited them on the TV inside the player’s lounge.
There were no elaborate phrases, just two bold numbers: “0-0.”
The meaning was clear to all. Those digits symbolized a fresh start, a clean slate for the team — a reminder that the journey ahead was just beginning. The sole focus now? Climbing from zero to 16.
“Everything is in the past,” Joe Mazzulla said after practice on Saturday. “Right now, everyone is zero and zero. In my mind, the seeding doesn’t matter, the regular season doesn’t matter, what matters is just how we approach. It started with how we practiced this week. All we can control is the time that we have. The guys have done a great job just honing in on all the details and the execution on both sides of the ball. But both teams are 0-0.”
As the Celtics gear up for their first-round matchup against the Miami Heat, the memories of last May — the pain of defeat, the disappointment of falling short — are also relegated to the past. It’s all about the present moment, the opportunity at hand, and the determination to forge ahead, leaving history in the rearview mirror with one simple goal in mind: 16 wins.
“You don’t forget, but you do your best to live in the moment,” Jaylen Brown said. “You learn from those experiences, and you can’t bring those thoughts into it. You got a new team, you got new players, I’m a new player. So, just, you come, and you stay in the moment, and you take it one day at a time.”
“That can be dangerous, because then you can look at two years ago, or you can look at the bubble year. What matters is focusing on the present – who we are as a team, what we’ve worked on,” Mazzulla added when asked about applying what happened last year in this series. “Every series, every playoff, every team, season, takes on a life of its own, an identity of its own. We spent the year establishing that identity, and I think it’s important to continue that through the playoffs, knowing that every series is going to be a little bit different, and be ready to make those adjustments when necessary. We kind of talked about it all year – there’s really no difference between the regular season and the playoffs. It’s just simple details under higher duress. It comes down to the margins, and you got to be ready to win those.”
The Celtics have felt the Heat’s sting for years now. Despite health setbacks and a lackluster regular season, Miami’s championship DNA remains intact under Erik Spoelstra’s leadership. The Celtics aren’t underestimating the Heat; they know the Heat will bring their best.
“Anytime someone’s out, other guys are going to take on the responsibility of playing, so their DNA is still the same,” Mazzulla said. “Their team might look a little bit different, but their DNA is still the same.”
“We have to expect them to be ultra-aggressive, ultra-like, handsy, trying to do all the little dirty things they can — not dirty things, but like, to mess up the game a little bit, to get some advantages,” Kristaps Porzingis added. “We have to be ready for that. It’s gonna be it’s going to be a war.”
The playoffs are a battleground, a test of wills. Every victory is hard-earned, every defeat keenly felt. But it’s this intensity that makes the pursuit of a championship so unique. For the Celtics, the formula is clear: 16 wins. A reminder that was felt as the team concluded practice at the Auerbach Center on the eve of Game 1.
It was a cloudy day. However, sunlight pierced through the glass windows, casting a spotlight over the 17 banners adorning the practice court. Amidst them, one empty banner stood out.
To the right of the 2008 championship banner, that vacant space serves as a powerful reminder of the relentless pursuit of greatness — a pinnacle not reached in Boston for nearly 16 years.
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