Happy Mother’s Day.
Bobby Orr became a bronze statue on this holiday in 1970.
Fifty-three years later, it’s Jayson Tatum’s turn to give birth to bedlam in Boston with a monumental performance in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
A victory pushes the Celtics into the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Need some motivation before tipoff? Here’s our plan.
In darkness under the spotlight, Deuce Tatum is carried into TD Garden dressed as a Wakandan prince. The procession is led by Paul Pierce and Queen Ramonda herself, Viola Davis. Celtics cheerleaders toss rose petals. Meanwhile, a PG version of Kendrick Lamar’s “Big Shot” fills the arena.
If that doesn’t inspire Deuce Sr. to score at least 2 points in the first half, nothing will.
To fire up the masses, Big Papi, Kevin Garnett, Julian Edelman, and Rob Gronkowski then emerge. They each wave a Celtics flag while creating the world’s largest sports book commercial for DraftDuelMGMBet.
Finish with some vintage clips from Game 7 of the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals on the big screen and Philly has no shot.
Today marks the 8th time these two franchises have met in a Game 7. Boston has won five of them.
But the 2023 iteration of the NBA’s most prolific postseason rivalry has a distinct, if not pungent, scent. This time, the protagonists lack a championship pedigree. Long gone in the rafters are Wilt, Russell, Bird, McHale, Dr. J., and Moses Malone. And their rings.
James Harden’s history is littered with postseason disappointments in Oklahoma City, Houston, Brooklyn, and Philly. Joel Embiid is an MVP who has yet to reach the conference finals. Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and the rest of the Celtics whiffed badly against Golden State in 2022.
Doc Rivers did win a ring coaching the Celtics to their last title … 15 YEARS AGO.
(Hard to believe it’s been 15 years.)
But even Doc has lost his mojo since leaving Boston. He, too, has yet to reach the conference finals since 2012 with the Celtics.
Today’s winner gets Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. The eighth-seeded Heat, who needed to win a play-in game just to reach the playoffs, brushed off the Knicks Friday night. There’s a lot to love about Jimmy Buckets. For one, he went to Marquette along with Rivers, and yours truly. Butler is also the consummate overachiever, especially in the playoffs.
No one playing today on either team can make that claim with any credibility.
But let’s not be foolish enough to get ahead of things when dealing with the 2023 Boston Celtics.
This Green Team has been predictably unpredictable and consistently inconsistent this postseason.
It remains to be determined if the current version of the Celtics is immensely talented but possess neither grit nor balls, are an overrated lot, historic underachievers (see your Boston Bruins), all the above, or none of the above.
The Celtics today can continue to chip away at the perception that they lack the internal motivation and mental fortitude to succeed at the most critical moments of the postseason.
There were two encouraging moments after Game 6 Friday night.
One: Jaylen Brown calling out Celtics fans.
“Celtics fans, y’all love to call us out, right?” Brown said when asked about today’s crowd. “I’m gonna call you guys out this time. The energy in the Garden has been OK, at best, all playoffs. Game 7, if you’re there or if you’re not there. If you’re at home, if you are watching at a bar, if you are watching down the street at a friend’s house, I don’t care. I need you to be up. No excuses. We need everybody. I’m calling you guys out. Let’s make sure the Garden is ready to go.”
That’s exactly what we heard from the likes of Brady and Ortiz over the years. Brown, perhaps secure with the likelihood of a max contract, spoke like someone who wants to be The Alpha Dog and do it while playing for the Celtics.
The TD Garden faithful could use some encouragement. It’s hard to get too excited when the Celtics are 7-9 in their past 16 home playoff games. It’s even more difficult to wildly back the home team when two tickets in Row 7, Section 312 of the nosebleeds cost $681.91 (including fees) via Ticketmaster the day before the game. That view includes both the parquet floor and Runway 4R/22L at Logan Airport.
Two: Tatum finding his inner Muhammad Ali and “humbly” declaring himself one of the “best basketball players in the world.”
If you don’t believe you’re one of the best basketball players in the world, no one else will. Today’s playoff game is Tatum’s 87th in a Celtics uniform. But he has yet to fully earn the trust of this fanbase.
To wit: Game 6.
For 43 minutes Friday, Tatum had the Celtics on a path for The Offseason From Hell. He missed 14 of his first 15 shots and scored one point in the first half. And in a scary replay of last year’s NBA Finals, he gave away the ball four times.
Then coach Joe Mazzulla told him to “Go get the (expletive) ball” (via Jay King of The Athletic) during a timeout. A timeout. Imagine that.
Tatum entered the final five minutes of Game 6 as a bewildered and still-stuck-emotionally-on-19 wanna-be superstar. He then took control.
Tatum hit three consecutive three-balls and outscored the Sixers 16-13 in the fourth quarter. He emerged as the 25-year-old All-Universe player he purports to be.
Time to do it again today.
Every statue must start somewhere.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF and @BillSperos) can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com.