On Sunday, in a 114-94 thumping of the Miami Warmth, the Boston Celtics kicked off their quest to finish a 16-year NBA championship drought with stellar protection, a red-hot sport from deep and the type of beat-you-from-anywhere-on-the-roster depth that may confound even groups as relentless as Miami.

It was a superb starting. 

And — no excuses right here — they positive higher maintain it going, on Wednesday evening in Recreation 2 and all through the rest of the NBA’s postseason.

That is the crux of the duty in entrance of the Celtics. They will win all of it, and in some ways, they have to. The subsequent two months result in glory or gasps, confetti or consternation, a collective sigh of victorious reduction or the potential for actual, and possibly lasting, harm.

This can be a must-win season in Boston. And all of the instruments and traps are at their disposal.

The Celtics are, by any measurable normal, the sport’s greatest workforce: They’ve the league’s greatest offense. They’ve its third-best protection. It might stand to cause, then, that they’ve the NBA’s greatest web ranking — they usually do — however it’s greater than that. They’ve the third-best web ranking in NBA historical past. The Celtics roster couldn’t be deeper, significantly with the offseason additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Vacation.

The workforce’s path, too, appears completely aligned — simply the sort of reward befitting a 64-win workforce and the No. 1 general seed within the playoffs, East or West. This Warmth workforce could also be powerful, however there is a toothlessness there, too, given the very fact Jimmy Butler will miss the collection with a sprained MCL. The Knicks, Embiid-is-back-Sixers and Bucks are on the opposite aspect of the bracket.

The street is open earlier than them.

Profitable championships hardly ever comes straightforward, simply as regular-season excellence gives no positive assure. However this Celtics workforce — so improved from the squad that two years in the past misplaced within the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, and misplaced final yr in Recreation 7 of the Japanese Convention Finals on its house ground — has no extra excuses.

But worries stay. As does actual, and maybe impactful, strain.

It was not fairly a yr in the past, after that debacle in opposition to the Warmth — the Celtics had fallen behind 3-0 in that collection earlier than charging again after which shedding that Recreation 7 in Boston — that coach Joe Mazulla’s seat grew highly regarded certainly.

He has returned this season with a vengeance. However successful within the playoffs is one other animal altogether, and the one true gauge Celtics followers, and maybe the Celtics brass, will flip to in assessing his success this time round would be the chase to win 16 postseason video games.

Past the coach, there’s additionally the Jayson Tatum query.

He’s their bona fide star, an MVP-level scorer who’s gone by way of sufficient postseason wars to have hopefully discovered no matter playoff classes one wants for greatness. Maybe, like Nikola Jokic final season, Tatum is one marvelous run away from flipping the narrative surrounding him solely.

However, at the least thus far, he has been in contrast to Jokic in his capacity to be nice in moments of actual strain — a obvious, worrisome fact for any workforce chasing a championship.

The very fact stays that Tatum may be fairly unreliable — learn: usually dangerous — within the clutch. This isn’t a sizzling take, and it is greater than some poor outings within the 2022 NBA Finals or final yr’s Japanese Convention Finals. The info is obvious, and the pattern measurement is massive. 

This isn’t breaking information, however value repeating: Groups want star gamers to play like stars in tight playoff conditions with a view to go the place they wish to go. Assume Jordan. Assume Kobe. Assume LeBron. Assume Jokic.

Laborious, thus far, to suppose in any respect about Tatum, at the least in that context. It is also onerous to imagine that the Celtics is not going to play shut or nerve-racking video games this postseason. Playoff domination occurs, however it hardly ever occurs with out strain. 

For the NBA, these strain moments, clutch time, is outlined as the ultimate 5 minutes of a sport inside 5 factors or nearer. And by that definition, this season’s Celtics are superior: 21-12 in these conditions and fourth in web ranking at +15.4.

Effective. Nice. Method to go.

However maintain on.

The Celtics reliability in shut video games drops considerably whenever you ramp up the, no pun meant, warmth. Take a look at video games over the ultimate 5 minutes which can be inside three factors or fewer and the Celtics begin taking part in just like the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors.

In these nearer, pressure-packed video games the Celtics web ranking drops all the best way to twenty second, at -7.4, sitting proper there with these groups that missed the playoffs.

Maybe the Celtics are so good that, just like the championship 2017 Golden State Warriors workforce that went 16-1 within the playoffs, they’re going to merely dominate so totally that strain moments will not actually matter. Although even that Warriors workforce needed to play a few shut video games on the best way to successful all of it, they largely gained with ease.

Extra possible, Boston will, in some unspecified time in the future, be examined. 

And when that take a look at comes, some pressure-packed truths will probably be revealed with such a second: That Tatum, poor below strain stretching again years, might want to step up and reverse that reality. That Boston shedding is brutally unacceptable, a weight heavier than we regularly give it credit score for, particularly with a workforce so dominant within the common season. And that after a number of shut calls, defeat this time round would possibly begin to really feel just like the sort of sample that’s constructing solely towards disappointment relatively than redemption.

The Boston Celtics are extraordinary. However they aren’t anointed to greatness. They should earn that themselves. And their historical past, their star’s previous shortcomings, and the very actual strain clinging to their present-day, not-yet-set greatness means any slipup or setback would inform us whether or not they actually are this marvelous pressure we imagine them to be.

Searching for extra NBA protection? John Gonzalez, Invoice Reiter, Ashley Nicole Moss and particular visitors dive deep into the league’s largest storylines every day on the Past the Arc podcast.