Ime Udoka spoke to the media about the Celtics confidence after finishing the season strong and sweeping the Brooklyn Nets. Udoka said: “We’re a basketball team, not a track team. We’re not running from people.”
The Boston Celtics are a confident bunch heading into the Eastern Conference Semifinals, and rightfully so.
After hearing plenty of pundits say they should try to avoid the Brooklyn Nets in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs, the C's responded with a series sweep of the preseason title favorite. By shutting down the superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Boston proved it can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league.
Celtics Talk: Takeaways from Celtics sweeping Nets, and what happens next? | w/ Amina Smith | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
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Celtics head coach Ime Udoka spoke to reporters Wednesday about the team's decision to embrace the Brooklyn matchup.
"We talked about doing it the way we wanted to do it, which was letting the chips fall where they may. Not trying to avoid or manipulate anything," Udoka said. "And so, when you see other teams that were doing it that way, I think the message like I said to our guys was we'll worry about ourselves.
"We wanted to play well toward the end of the season and we did that kind of culminating with the Memphis game where we played it out. For us, that was the focus, and the players echoed that statement, like let's worry about ourselves and whatever opponent happens, happens."
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It'll only get tougher for the Celtics from this point on in the tournament, but this isn't a group that will back down from a challenge.
"To do it against a high-quality team that is not your typical seven seed, that bodes well for us going forward," Udoka added. "But we understood, it's the playoffs and you're gonna have to play really good teams regardless.
"One thing we talked about is we're a basketball team, we're not a track team. We're not running from people."
Is that a subtle shot at the Celtics' potential opponent in the next round? The Milwaukee Bucks ended up avoiding Brooklyn to set up a more appealing first-round matchup with the Chicago Bulls. They currently lead the series 3-1 heading into Wednesday night's Game 5.
Since the C's stepped up to beat the Nets, they'll have homecourt advantage over the Bucks or Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semis.
Check out Udoka's full press conference below:
