The Boston Celtics celebrate as Jaylen Brown is named MVP of the Eastern Conference finals. Photo / Getty Images
The Boston Celtics celebrate as Jaylen Brown is named MVP of the Eastern Conference finals. Photo / Getty Images
As the NBA’s Eastern Conference prepared for the postseason, an air of inevitability hung over the bracket.
For the first time since the 2019-20 campaign, the No 1 seed was locked away by a team that lost fewer than 20 games in the regular season; the Boston Celtics winning 14 games more than the No 2 seed New York Knicks.
Add in injuries keeping stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks), Jimmy Butler (Miami Heat) and Julius Randle (New York Knicks) from suiting up for their respective teams, the Eastern Conference felt like it was the Celtics’ for the taking.
They didn’t waste any time wrapping it up.
“The quote that keeps coming up, that I love in regards to that, is we’re not going to apologise for winning,” Celtics player development coach Ross McMains told the Herald.
“I mean, at the end of the day, you’re facing teams that are desperate to win, it’s competitive and it’s the NBA and everyone’s a really good player, so every series has been a different type of test for us that we’ve had to learn and grow from.
“We run our own race right now in that regard; having to learn each series and add things each series and hopefully be sharper by the next series to have a chance to win it.”
The Celtics, who themselves have been without star big man Kristaps Porzingis since the first round due to injury, have been dominant in the play-offs so far. They beat the Miami Heat 4-1, the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 and the Indiana Pacers 4-0 to march into the NBA finals. They will meet the Dallas Mavericks there after the Mavericks wrapped up the Western Conference with a 4-1 series win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
McMains, who grew up on Waiheke Island and has been a regular member of the Tall Blacks’ coaching staff, said getting the job done quickly in the east had its pros and cons with a 10-day break between the last win over the Pacers and the start of the NBA finals.
Boston Celtics development coach Ross McMains (centre) during a training session with Jrue Holiday and Jayson Tatum. Photo / Boston Celtics
“It’s a long time, so that comes with its own different things you have to manage with trying to keep guys sharp and in shape and in rhythm,” he said.
“Ultimately, I think you’d choose having some rest over having to go straight from one series to another with only a couple of days, but we’re going to have to manage that well.
“It allows us some time to sharpen ourselves and then also prepare for our opponent, which is great. We’ve had some guys who really battled throughout the course of this last series and I’m sure they’ll be grateful to get off their legs for a couple of days.”
During that time, McMains said he had been keeping a close eye on what was happening in the Western Conference as the Celtics prepared for what awaited them next week.
“That’s stuff we’ve been doing throughout the whole play-offs. The balance of being an assistant coach is you’re locked in on the current series and the next game, while at the same time, you have your responsibilities of preparing for the next series and tracking two teams that you may play and scouting them.
“Obviously, it’s nice to have our series done where we can completely shift our full attention to it. For me at least, I’m always a little superstitious of feeling on edge of giving too much attention to the next series to not lose focus on the current one, but that’s just what you have to do a lot of times.
“We’ve been tracking that series very closely.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
