In the final 63 seconds of Game 6 of the 2022 Finals, Celtics coach Amy Yuduka decided to replace the main player after trailing by 11 points, also announcing that the Warriors would win the championship.
Jason Tatum walked slowly off the court, greeted his teammates and coach, took off his jersey and sat down on the bench, watching the Warriors celebrate their fourth championship in 8 years.
"It's an unforgettable pain." Jason Tatum said after the game, "We worked together through the season, all the way from the playoffs to the Finals, and we all wanted to stand on the court to celebrate, but in the end it fell short. ”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau's record, double-agent Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown became the fourth group of under-25s to score in the top two points of the team.
The other three groups are Rockets Hall of Fame duo Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson in 1986, O'Neal and Hardaway for the Magic in 1995, and Durant and Westbrook for the Thunder in 2012.
With the Celtics losing to the Warriors, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown shared the same characteristics as the aforementioned combination: both lost in the Finals.
At the NBA level, that's a good thing, as many championship-winning teams have lost in the Finals, but the bad news is that none of these combinations have been able to get back to the Finals.
After a big turn in the middle of the season, all the way to the Finals to win two, and now the Celtics are about to enter the offseason, hoping to avoid the same fate as their predecessors.
"Our future is very bright." Jaylen Brown said after the Finals, "I believe from the bottom of my heart that adversity makes people grow, and now we have the nourishment of growing breakthroughs." ”
The Celtics' timeline is different from the above three groups, the Rockets were still a strong team in 1986, but Ralph Sampson began to suffer knee and back injuries, playing 243 games in the first three seasons and only 213 games in the next nine seasons.
The Magic of 1995 and the Thunder of 2012 were sad for the small market, and there was no way to win in the free agent market. After the Magic lost to Jordan's Bulls in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, O'Neal left Orlando to join the Lakers. The Thunder traded Harden to the Rockets before the start of the 2012-13 season, and after losing to the Warriors in 2016, Durant went straight to the enemy camp.
The Celts, however, may be about to begin their period of power.
The Celtics' eight main players will remain at least until the 2023-24 season. Al Horford, 36, is the only player to have a chance to jump out of his contract before the 2023-24 season and the only player over 27 years old. Jason Tatum, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams will all be on contract until the 2025-26 season; Derek White, Daniel Theis and Payton Pritchard will be through the 2024-25 season, while Jaylen Brown's extended contract will end in 2023-24.
At the same time, the new head coach Amy Yuduka and the new operating president Brad Stephens are also expected to get a lot of room to play, so even if the Finals lose to the Warriors, for the Celtics, this is just the beginning, not a crossroads of frustration.
"We already have a big blueprint for the future, and the team at this stage will continue to maintain and continue to strive for better achievements based on this." Amy Yuduka said, "I've had a lot of playoff experience in the past, even championships, on the one hand, to maintain the balance of strength, on the other hand, to look to the future, and then step by step. ”
In the early part of the 2021-22 season, Amy Yuduka suffered many questions, and the team's poor performance natural rookie coach will be held accountable. But later in January 2022, when Amy Yuduka led the team to start rushing forward, coupled with some positive reinforcement deals, it took the greenshirts to the finals in one fell swoop, and even if they lost, they were still considered to have a pretty good future.
"Probably no one thought it would be us winning the Eastern Conference." Marcus Smart said after the Finals, "We struggled and rolled to get here, and with these experiences, we're only going to be stronger and harder." ”
The Celtics ended their last 35 games with 28 wins and 7 losses, and had the league's best offensive and defensive efficiency during this time. In addition, the Celtics now not only have talent, but also championship experience as fuel for the future, "When you ask me which Eastern Conference team has the best chance of winning the division championship next season, I think it will be Boston. ”
The Celtics faced a lot of difficulties throughout the Finals, especially Jason Tatum, and the Warriors constantly applied a variety of different defensive strategies to him, making Jason Tatum play very hard, shooting only 36.7% from the field and dropping to 31.6% from two-point range.
Jason Tatum, who also broke the league record with 100 turnovers throughout the playoffs, "is constantly learning how to adapt to various stadium conditions." Amy Yuduka said of Jason Tatum's next challenge, "You're an All-Star and a First Team of the Year, it's just that you start to be a defensive focus and you have to adjust and adapt and evolve into a stronger star. ”
At the same time, the Celtics also found that they had problems with depth in this campaign, and although Marcus Smart and Robert Williams were both plagued by injuries, they were relatively lucky not to suffer too many injuries in the playoffs.
Compared to the Warriors, the Celtics' second-team lineups derrick White, Grant Williams and Peyton Pricha were compared, and in Game Six, the trio scored five points on 2-of-10 shooting.
"Their second-tier squad needs to be improved." An eastern executive said.
"They're going to need a real point guard, I like Morris but he needs someone to help, it shouldn't be the job of Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown. If Sir Utah hadn't left Mike Conley, it would have been a chance for Boston. ”
Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown's ball-holding organization and attacking fire are also improving, but they must continue to improve and then reduce their mistakes, which will also be a major factor in whether the Celtics can go deeper and farther.
"Jaylen Brown has begun to show his ability to hold the ball and is willing to divide the ball selflessly." A Western Conference executive said, "Jason Tatum's course decisions have improved and he is learning how to end the game and play the ace role of the key shot." ”
Although the 18th crown in team history was lost in the end and the opportunity to catch up with the Lakers was missed, but for Boston everything was thriving, their ace combination and second-tier lineup are quite young, there is a long time to impact the championship, "this is just the beginning, 2022 is just the foundation of the future." ”