BOSTON — The Boston Celtics aren’t feeling the pressure ahead of the start of their title defense on Tuesday night.
With the Celtics set to raise their 18th banner before kicking off the regular season against the New York Knicks, head coach Joe Mazzulla said there’s “zero pressure” on Boston to repeat as champions.
“We’re all going to be dead soon, and it really doesn’t matter anymore. So there’s zero pressure,” he told reporters on Monday. “You have an opportunity to carry the organization forward, to double down on the tradition and history of what this organization has. And what else would you expect than someone expecting you to win all the time?”
The Celtics cruised through the NBA regular season last year — finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference by 14 games — and then went 16-3 in the playoffs. Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they are bringing back their entire starting lineup and most of their bench, and are the favorites to win it all again.
“It’s not pressure,” Mazzulla said. “There’s nothing anyone in this circle can do to me that’s gonna impact my identity and who I am as a person or a coach. We’re either gonna win or we’re not, and 40 years from now, none of you are invited to my funeral and that’s it.”
The Celtics won 16 NBA titles from 1957-86, with Bill Russell claiming 11 in 13 years. The 1970s teams of Dave Cowens and John Havlicek won a pair, and the Big Three of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale won three more in the 1980s.
When Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen won it all in 2008, they ended the franchise’s longest-ever title drought. They made it back to the NBA Finals two years later, but lost to the Lakers. (The period from 2008-24 was the second-longest drought.)
Celtics guard Payton Pritchard said that to be considered among the Celtics greats they will need to win another.
“A lot of people can do it once,” Pritchard said. “I know a championship’s hard, but there’s a lot of people who have won one. But winning it multiple times, creating almost like a dynasty, that’s hard to do. So that’s greatness, and that’s something we’re trying to achieve.”
The quest begins against the Knicks, who have positioned themselves as Boston’s top competition in the East after acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges over the summer.
Mazzulla said he thinks his team will be ready.
“I trust who they are. I think they have an understanding of both ‘This is what we accomplished’ and ‘This is what we’re trying to do'” the coach said. “All the intangibles that go into winning should carry over from one season to another season.”
“You have to appreciate it,” he said. “But you’ve got to know what got you there and if you forget what got you there, you’ll never get back.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.