Celtics prepare for title defense in the face of true challengers: ‘We have to hunt again’

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Everyone tells you how hard it is to win a championship, but what happens after you win — when the champagne stops flowing and the invincibility fades?

You find yourself playing 82 playoff games, having to muster a higher intensity than most good teams, or deciding when to use this reservoir of energy that isn’t an unlimited supply.

The standings show the Boston Celtics are one loss away from their total of 18 from last year, when they romped through the entire season and postseason, barely being touched or challenged on the way to claiming banner No. 18.

Their 17th loss this season came in a haze of Detroit aggression, Motown dancing and shimmying as the upstart Pistons won their eighth straight game, putting the NBA on notice with an impressive 117-97 win over the Celtics last Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena. It was arguably the franchise’s biggest regular-season home game since the 2007-08 season, when they took on the newly formed Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen Celtics at the Palace of Auburn Hills in a preview of the Eastern Conference finals.

Last Wednesday, the Celtics weren’t ready for the emotional onslaught the Pistons were bringing. Detroit’s youth and improvement were evident from the opening layup lines, the players sensing an opportunity for more skins on the wall.

(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

It isn’t the case for every game, but there is extra motivation for every team opening its doors to the visiting Celtics or walking into Boston’s TD Garden this season. Whether the Celtics realize it or not, they’re playing two games in one, almost every night. The mental and physical fatigue is just as daunting as the actual competition.

There’s a reason — not the biggest one, but a factor — the NBA hasn’t had a repeat champion since the Stephen Curry-Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. It’s the longest such stretch for the NBA since the late-1970s, right before the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird decade of dominance began.

“We have to hunt again. We want to win another championship, and we have to be hunting again,” Kristaps Porziņģis said last…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/celtics-prepare-for-title-defense-in-the-face-of-true-challengers-we-have-to-hunt-again-173237634.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-07 17:32:00

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