The same thing keeps making or breaking the Boston Celtics, year in and year out. It’s not three-point shooting. It’s not injuries. It’s…
…the annual winter west coast trip.
Maybe it’s because the games start so late, and I find myself staying up until one in the morning to watch the end of games. But the winter west coast trip — in which Boston usually plays both Los Angeles teams, Golden State and maybe one other California team — has quietly become one of the most important parts of the last three Celtics seasons, and this year’s is sneaky important.
I can’t prove it, but the 2022 version of this “let’s go play every team on the West Coast” thing broke the Celtics. The Celtics were 21-5, riding high and maybe about to steamroll their way past their NBA Finals hangover into Banner 18. But then… they played the Golden State Warriors, and everything fell apart.
They got destroyed by Golden State. Jayson Tatum played horribly, nothing worked, and all the problems that had sunk the Celtics back in June were back and hauntier than ever. They lost four of their next five, with their lone win coming in overtime against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Of course, Boston rebounded. They came one game and one Miami-Heat-witchcraft ritual away from making the Finals again. Yeah, it didn’t literally fall apart, but it was shocking, and it set a strange tone for the season going into the All Star break. And in the end, they couldn’t get it done.
Then, again, last season, the Celtics set off on their winter west coast trip and they were fully loaded and not taking any prisoners. They came in on a tear, but they lost to the Warriors… in Golden State… again. They didn’t get destroyed — they got stabbed in the heart by Stephen Curry hitting a brutal game-winning shot in overtime. But things didn’t fall apart; Boston rebounded from the loss and went bananagrams on the league, winning their next two west coast games by a combined 62 points. Instead of falling apart, they activated. Oh, and then they won Banner 18. No big deal.
You can call these road trips blips, but I think they’re proofs of concept about what this team can do against adversity, against teams they don’t have a lot of experience against, and in places they aren’t used to playing. I have, and do, think they are extremely important.
And now we’re here. The Celtics mauled the Warriors, squeaked out a weird and admittedly kinda-hilarious game against the Los Angeles Clippers, and got embarrassed by the Los Angeles Lakers on the back end of a back-to-back. With only one game left against Dallas, they stand on the precipice of making this road trip another great turning point for this squad. Coming into this year’s edition, Boston was in a rut, going win-loss-win-loss-win-loss-win-loss in their last seven. Two wins against the Warriors and Clippers were nice, but the Lakers saw the return to the concerning status quo. That’s too middling for how talented this team is.
Road trips like this tell you who you really are. This one hasn’t quite told me much, only more of the same confusion and inconsistency. But they still have a chance to go three for four, something that would do wonders for a team that is bordering on comatose as we approach the All-Star Break. But don’t sleep on these winter road trips. They matter. And this one does, too.
