Boston Celtics Not Making Excuses

The Boston Celtics are making it clear that they will never be making excuses

The Boston Celtics are going through one of the worst injury stretches you could ever imagine. Most of them will be coming back, but the Celtics were missing their entire starting lineup, minus Jayson Tatum, along with arguably their two best bench players.

The Celtics barely had enough players to fill a roster, and had G League starers coming up and playing a massive starting role in the NBA. This was rock bottom, absolute worst case, and yet it did not matter.

Brad Stevens still got there players motivated, and the delivered one of the most exciting games of the season. They did blow a huge lead, but taking the Washington Wizards to double overtime with that roster might be the most impressive game this season.

Nobody would have bat an eye if the Celtics were absolutely dismantled in this one, and with their position in the standings quite solidified, it would be all too easy for these players to just give in. But they never did.

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The Celtics pulled off a miracle in a loss, with players who stepped up in a way that no one thought was possible. And yet, by the end of the game, all Marcus Morris can talk about is the one missed defensive assignment in a critical situation.

Despite everything going on around them, the Celtics still have their one veteran remaining talking about how he needs to be better. This team is never satisfied, and they will never make an excuse. They have done a great job of overcoming injuries all season long, and it is because of this mentality that Stevens has instilled.

Stevens always keeps the players’ minds right. Everyone on the team has to be held accountable in any situation, and everyone understands what kind of standard they need to reach their actual goal.

The Celtics know how important their depth is, so those second unit players need to feel as though they can compete with starting caliber players, and that is what they did against the Wizards. They also take on all the responsibility around it. The regular starters would hold themselves responsible for a missed defensive assignment, so Morris will follow suit and accept the mistake he made, even if he is the biggest reason they were in that game.

The Celtics have always carried themselves with this kind of demeanour, and you can look at Danny Ainge talking about them not quite having the talent to compete, or Brad Stevens mentioning that they are not as good as their record suggests.

This team is never satisfied, and will always look at the ways they need to be better, They have maintained their focus throughout a circus of injuries this season, and a lot of these bench players are going to be better because of it.

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It is absolutely devastating for the Celtics to endure all these kinds of injuries, but that will never be an excuse for anyone to pack anything in, or to hold themselves to any kind of lower standard. Stevens has created a special culture in Boston, and to see Morris, who has not even spent a full year with the team, take that kind of responsibility, is a great testament to how much everyone buys into Stevens.

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