The 2021-2022 Boston Celtics ended their season with their head held high. Despite falling short in the NBA Finals, fans can take solace in the fact that they were defeated by a team who has reached the top multiple times in the Golden State Warriors led by the greatest shooter of all time and future Hall of Famer, Stephen Curry, who also took home his first Finals MVP. The Finals were exhilarating, to say the least, as we got to see the Celtics, led by first-time All-NBA First-Team Selection Jayson Tatum, who finally exorcised their Eastern Conference Finals demons, go toe-to-toe with Curry and the Dubs, who quickly retooled after placing dead-last in the Western Conference two years prior.
When the Celtics won Game 1 in shocking fashion, a lot of people changed their predictions on the outcome of the series, and Boston was even heavily favored before Game 4 began. But this was not the case all year long. The Celtics’ Finals appearance came as a surprise to most people, considering they were sporting a 16-19 record in late December. Nevertheless, the Celtics stuck together, employed a defense-first approach, and ran through the league, finishing with a 51-31 record, good for second in the East. That late turnaround was spearheaded by first-time head coach Ime Udoka, who employed a defense-first approach, which paved the way to the Celtics’ first Finals appearance since 2010. While reliable sources have been scarce in the face of this incident, a lot of people with inside knowledge have left crumbs of information that will help unfold and understand the entirety and severity of the Ime Udoka situation.
Before we start exploring everything, please make sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel if you want more interesting NBA analysis such as this one. With that, let’s explore what really happened with Ime Udoka and the Boston Celtics.
First off, let’s start with the timeline.
When Wojnarowski’s September 22 tweet began exploding in basketball circles, information about what Udoka did to warrant a suspension and more importantly, how long that suspension would be, was extremely limited. Less than an hour later, at 11:33 am, Wojnarowski followed up with a tweet regarding Udoka’s job security: “Ime Udoka’s job isn’t believed to be in jeopardy, but a suspension is looming”. Which essentially still does not tell anything about what he did. Sure, an additional nugget of detail was shared, but still, this is tantamount to nothing in terms of actual breaking news. Then, a few minutes before 1 pm the same day, Shams Charania, Lead NBA Insider for The Athletic, and Wojnarowski’s nemesis when it comes to NBA Scoops.
Former NBA player and now ESPN analyst Matt Barnes also voiced his opinion on the scandal. At first, he originally came to Udoka’s defense, when, after learning of the Celtics’ decision to suspend their Head Coach for one season, called it “terrible”. He then said that he “played in the league for a long time. Anyone who played in the league can tell you: this is a very common situation. However, a day later, Barnes backtracked and clarified his responses a day prior. “Last night, without knowing all the facts, I spoke on Ime Udoka’s defense and after finding out the facts after I spoke, I erased what I posted because this situation in Boston is deep, it’s messy, it’s 100 times uglier than any of us thought,”
The severity of Udoka’s actions still cannot be accurately determined, but Barnes’ statement certainly sheds a light on the potential implications. Wojnarowski’s latest report suggested that if Udoka wishes, Boston would allow him to pursue a coaching gig with other teams. Furthermore, rival teams have also inquired about the baseline of the situation, trying to gather as much information as they can in order to have a better picture of what happened with Udoka and the Celtics before trying to employ his services. However, with the limited availability of the information, and even the Celtics themselves still trying to figure out what to do, those teams wouldn’t have much to go on. Udoka has since addressed the issue, saying “I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team’s decision. Out of respect for everyone involved, I will have no further comment.” but his limited response only added to the haziness of the situation.
Looking ahead, the Celtics started their preseason with a bang, dominating the Charlotte Hornets 134-93. The Celtics, under Joe Mazzulla’s helm in his debut as head coach collected an absurd 41 assists on 48 made field goals. The Celtics also made a ridiculous 22 out of 47 three-pointers and looked to be in prime form for the next season. Just how big really Udoka’s impact was is a question for another time, but for now, it looks like they’ll be just fine.
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