While it should be and very much is painful, there is no shame in losing the NBA Finals.
There’s also no ring in it. As competitive icons such as NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and even fictional racing philosopher Ricky Bobby would say, second place is really the first loser.
Boston indeed took the L Thursday night at TD Garden with the season on the line.
The Celtics closed out what time and hindsight will show was a great year with a far-from-great Game 6 series-ending loss to the Warriors. The 103-90 defeat, Boston losing three in a row for the first time since December, derailed its Banner 18 dreams and displayed one fact quite clearly – Jayson Tatum and these Celtics simply didn’t measure up to Steph Curry’s very much championship-worthy Warriors.
Boston’s final game began much the way the final series of the impressive, resilient playoff run began, with hope. A Celtics squad that shockingly upset the Warriors on the road in Game 1 jumped out to 14-2 advantage less than four minutes into this must-win matchup looking force a return trip to Golden State for Game 7.
But the past and once-again champion visitors were anything but fazed, going on a 35-8 run to build an eventual 53-39 halftime lead that grew to 22 points in the second half. Boston fought the good fight, cutting the visitor’s advantage to eight in the final five minutes, but Golden State was not to be denied its fourth title in six trips to the Finals in the last eight seasons.
Characteristic of their losses this postseason, Boston turned the ball over 22 times, led by five apiece from Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
And while Curry was buffing up his Hall of Fame resume by earning his first Finals MVP with 34 points in a performance that left the superstar on his knees in tears at the conclusive whistle, Tatum once again failed to step up when his team needed him most. Boston’s budding superstar notched just 13 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
Brown was the only other player other than the MVP Curry to top 20 points in the game, matching Golden State’s star with 34 of his own in the losing effort.
In the end the still-young, still-building Celtics learned a lesson that many an NBA Champion has learned in the past. That winning is a process. That the last step is the toughest one. Landing that ring is not easy. That an impressive regular season turnaround and mettle-proving run through the Eastern Conference can be swiftly rendered rather meaningless, especially when you face a proven, tested, true champion like Curry’s Warriors on the other side of the floor.
“It's going to hurt. It will hurt for a while,” Celtics’ first-year head coach Ime Udoka said. “The biggest message was learn from this, grow from it, take this experience and see there is another level to get to. A team like Golden State who has been there, done that. It was evident in a lot of ways.”
That level is one that Boston is not yet on, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get there, and get there sooner rather than later. Or that this core of players isn’t the core to get it there.
But this time around, the Celtics’ stars weren’t as good as the Warriors’ proven bunch. At 24 years old, Tatum is not yet in the same class as the 34-year-old Curry. All-NBA season aside, Tatum wasn’t ready to take his game and his team to that necessary next level, especially with the Warriors impressive defense making his life hard.
“This was one a rough one,” Udoka said of Tatum’s series. “Very consistent team that did some things to limit him and make others pay. For him, it's just continuing to grow and understand you're going to see this the rest of your career. This is just a start. The growth he showed as a playmaker this year and in certain areas, I think this is the next step for him. Figuring that out, getting to where some of the veterans are that have seen everything and took their lumps early in their careers.”
Ugly third quarters. The inability to close games. Those sloppy turnovers across the roster that just wouldn’t go away. Role players who came up huge in series wins over the Nets, Bucks and Heat seemingly wilted a bit in the spotlight of the Finals.
There are plenty of different reasons why the Celtics closed out a great year in losing fashion.
Boston heads into the offseason a beaten, disappointed team.
But its future with Udoka, Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, Rob Williams and the rest remains quite bright. Even if it didn’t look or feel that way at times in Thursday night’s season-ending and in many ways season-defining loss.
“That's the message to the guys tonight. This is just the start. A foundation has been set. We can kind of hit the ground running next year,” Udoka concluded. “Now it's a matter of taking that next step. What I did say to the group was there are levels. You can see the difference in Golden State, a team that's been there, been together for a long time. The core group, it's been 10 years now. We've seen what we can achieve. It hurts we fell short of that. But what I did say is the future is bright and we're just getting started, so let's all come back better from this experience.”
Come back ready to be a champion.