“Lord, I imagine; assist my unbelief!” – Mark 9:24

Its okay to imagine on this workforce. Its okay to imagine on this workforce. Its okay to imagine on this workforce.

Hold saying that to your self till you break down into an unpleasant cry like a scene from Good Will Looking. We’re right here for you. It’s not your fault.

Look, I understand how onerous it has been the previous couple of years. Particularly that darkish interval between September 2020 and December 2021. A bit of over 15 months of extremely forgettable, inconsistent, uninspired basketball. Everyone knows the circumstances and excuses, however the finish consequence was flat out onerous to look at. A chronic interval like that that stretches throughout seasons would make any fanbase develop belief points.

So when the workforce gained a couple of video games in January, we have been ready for the opposite shoe to drop. Once they began piling up the wins in February, individuals began questioning the absence of expertise and obtainable gamers for the opponents we have been beating. We’re now nicely into the third month of this and it could be time to start out believing in a few of these statistical fashions that put us within the Legit Contender class.

The bizarre factor is that the core of the workforce hasn’t considerably modified. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Good, and the rising Robert Williams III have been the important thing figures all through. For some motive, that very same core has gone from blah to boo-yah, from meh to magical, from excruciating to exhilarating. You get the thought.

I’m not going to fake to know all this. Regardless of numerous hours watching this workforce, analyzing the workforce, and writing about this workforce, I’m nonetheless scratching my head. There have been numerous theories about why it didn’t work earlier than. Numerous guesses about what modified. Numerous evaluation about what goes proper now. I’m not right here to re-litigate any of that. I’m simply making an attempt to inform you that it’s okay to imagine.

This isn’t a assure, thoughts you. You could possibly nonetheless get damage. The Celtics might run up in opposition to a foul matchup within the first spherical and discover themselves going house early. Accidents can occur to anybody at any time. However that’s simply the factor, these are points that each workforce faces headed into the playoffs.

Nevertheless, discover consolation and confidence in that the Celtics are now not beating themselves. They’re now not Jekyll and Hyde. They’re now not standing round ready for issues to occur. As a substitute, they’re trusting one another, making the additional move, giving the best effort on protection, displaying resolve when the opposite workforce makes a run. They’re taking over the character of their coach and executing the sport plan that he envisioned from Day One.

Tatum is enjoying like an MVP candidate. Jaylen is enjoying like a super 1B star. Good and Derrick White are twin lockdown defenders that transfer the ball. Al Horford and Williams are twin basket defenders that transfer the ball. The rotation has largely been playoff-short, however recently, the contributions have come from everybody, even all the way down to the ninth or tenth man.

One thing clicked across the flip of the yr they usually simply maintain getting higher. They’re placing within the work. They’re sacrificing for one another. They imagine in one another. Possibly it’s time that we believed in them, too.