‘Win or Die’: A Mindset The Celtics Need For Their Title Defense

The 2024-25 NBA season hasn’t started yet, but the Boston Celtics are already under pressure to repeat as champions.

It’s the first time in league history there have been six different champions in as many years, with parity at an all-time high. Of the previous five champions, all five failed to reach the conference finals the year after, with the Denver Nuggets the most recent victim.

If that wasn’t daunting enough, the Celtics will begin their title defense without starting center Kristaps Porzingis. The team survived most of their playoff run without him, but he’ll reportedly be out for at least 5-6 months. The Latvian big man provides an extra punch to Boston’s offense, and his absence hurts the team’s spacing.

Despite the tall task in front of the Celtics, head coach Joe Mazzulla doesn’t seem to care. As always, he seems to have embraced the adversity ahead of Boston’s back-to-back bid.

“People are gonna say the target is on our back, but I hope it’s right on our forehead in between our eyes. I hope I can see the red dot,” he said (2:58 in the video below).

This is nothing new from Mazzulla, as he’s been the most candid coach in the NBA since his arrival. In the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics were down 3-1 and facing elimination against the Miami Heat. When asked what adjustments he would make, Mazzulla simply said it was “win or die” for his team.

Some of Mazzulla’s quotes might produce an eye roll or two, but they’ve been a welcome change. As a result of their recent playoff failures, the Celtics have developed a poor reputation in the playoffs for being unable to finish the job. Like other recent playoff runs, most media wrote them off last season.

If you think the media’s dismissal of Boston is overblown by Celtics fans, there’s a five-minute video (from last season alone) of takes that aged like spoiled milk.

https://twitter.com/CelticsUnite18/status/1802897039308558612

There were moments when the Celtics seemed to take their foot off the gas last year. In an embarrassing showing in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Boston got walloped in an 84-122 blowout loss. Still, Mazzulla has done an excellent job of shedding the old narrative and getting the team to display more passion.

For the Celtics to repeat as NBA champions, they must continue to embrace that identity. Complacency has unraveled previous NBA repeat bids, and Boston must prove they are fully past those issues.

If Jaylen Brown‘s recent quote is any indication, the Celtics are well on their way. Now that Boston has tasted success and knows what it takes to win an NBA championship, head coach Joe Mazzulla can be sure his team is laser-focused as the Celtics try to capture the 19th championship in franchise history.