The expectations couldn’t be much higher in Boston. After last year’s campaign — which saw the team lose to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games in the conference finals while Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were out injured — there are an abundance of reasons to think the Celtics can win the Eastern Conference and compete for an NBA title.
While Philadelphia and Toronto have the potential to make a serious claim for the conference crown, Boston is the favorite to make it to the NBA Finals from the East. The thing is, though, is that a ton of stuff needs to happen until we get to that point, and in the eyes of Celtics guard Terry Rozier, the team is approaching this season with something of a sense of complacency.
“I feel like we need to get our mind right. Take some time off,” Rozier said, per Celtics.com. “But at the same time, we gotta get out there and just find our way.
“I feel like we arrived like we already won something,” Rozier continued. “Teams know that people are talking about us every time you turn on the TV, so that’s going to motivate them to want to beat us no matter if it’s the second string, third string, no matter who it is. We’ve got to stay grounded and go back to playing Boston Celtics basketball and being who we are instead of thinking we’re above everybody.”
Plenty of teams have fallen short of what they’re capable of achieving because they aren’t 100 percent locked in, and Rozier seems to understand that even though Boston hasn’t won anything yet, it will have a gigantic target on its back all season long. Rozier doesn’t want the Celtics to be happy with being the best team on paper, and even though the preseason exists to iron out wrinkles, the fourth-year guard isn’t happy with where the team’s at before the regular season tips off in 10 days.
