Celtics beating depleted Heat is nothing to celebrate. This team has a lot more to accomplish.
No need to drape the Boston Celtics with too much praise.
The No. 1 seed did what it was supposed to do – beat the No. 8 seed Miami Heat.
The Celtics had a disappointing Game 2 loss, won the next two games in Miami for a 3-1 series lead and finished off the Heat in Game 5 without injured forward-center Kristaps Porzingis.
They left no doubt, building a 30-point first half lead in a 118-84 victory over the depleted Heat. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each scored 25 points and Jayson Tatum had 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals is exactly where the Celtics should be, awaiting the winner of the Orlando-Cleveland series.
They passed a minor test against a team without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier for the entire series and avoided a Game 6 and that pressure that accompanies the potential of a Game 7. They faced a modicum of adversity – the sports kind, not the real-life kind – and came through.
For this franchise and this roster, first-round victories are not celebrations. It’s a necessary stop on the way to something bigger.
A championship is the goal. The Celtics have 17 of them, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for most in NBA history. This particular team with Tatum and Brown have knocked at the door – four conference finals and an NBA Finals appearance since Tatum's rookie year in 2017-18.
But no title since 2008.
After losing to the Heat in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens tinkered with the roster in the offseason, acquiring Jrue Holiday and Porzingis. It helped lead to a league-best 64-18 record, and Stevens was named Executive of the Year.
But an award without a title doesn’t mean as much in the Celtics-sphere.
During Boston’s Game 5 demolition, TNT play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson said, "It does feel like it’s going to be a disappointment if they don’t win it all this season.”
TNT analyst and former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy said: “That’s mentality they want.”
Of these recent Celtics teams, this is the best one by the eye test and the analytics. Boston has All-Stars and All-NBA players, and with the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense, it was just one of two teams to finish in the top four in both categories (Oklahoma City was the other).
In the conference semifinals, the Celtics will play a healthier and better team than they did in the first round, and whether it’s the Cavaliers or the Magic, the Celtics will face a quality defense. It’s another test and should be more difficult than the first round, especially with Porzingis expected to miss a few more games. But degree of difficulty is irrelevant for the Celtics.
All that matters is getting to the conference finals. That’s where the Celtics should be later in May.