Getty Al Horford #42 of the Boston Celtics celebrates with his teammates.
The Boston Celtics are in the NBA Finals. After defeating the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics will be going to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010. Having made it to the final round for the first time in 12 years, and having avenged their previous playoff defeats at the hands of the Heat, it was time for the Celtics to celebrate.
Following their series-clinching victory, the Celtics went to the locker room for their celebration as all conference champions do when they win. Before unleashing their glee, Head Coach Ime Udoka said “We already did the water bottle thing,” before Jayson Tatum interrupted him screaming, “Man f*** that!” as everyone on the roster started splashing water bottles at Udoka for leading them to victory.
tonight we celebrate ☘️☘️☘️
After the splashing concluded, Udoka went on to say that they have not achieved their biggest goal, but they deserve praise for how they’ve handled adversity much as they did against Miami in Game 7.
“First of all, we don’t hang banners for Eastern Conference Championships in this organization,” Udoka said. “We got bigger plans. You know what it is. Four more. Hell of a job though. There’s so many guys we need to shout out. What we do well, turnovers, rebounds, all the things that hurt us in certain games. We took care of those in the game… Who are we? Road warriors. We’ve been doing it all year. We had to make it interesting. It would have been nice to do it at home, but it’s even sweeter to send their ass home on the road.”
The Celtics then huddled together and chanted, “Everything east!” as they continued their celebration.
The First ‘Water Bottle Thing’ in the Locker Room
Udoka told his team not to splash him with water because they’ve already done it in one particular instance earlier this season. That instance Udoka was referring to was on October 24, 2021, when, after the Celtics defeated the Houston Rockets to give Udoka his first win as a head coach, promptly splashed their coach with water to celebrate his first victory.
Win number 1 for Coach U ☘️🎉
In that video, plenty of different faces were there to celebrate Udoka’s first victory, like Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, Enes Freedom, and Jabari Parker. All of whom were not on the team by end of the NBA trade deadline on February 10, 2022.
It goes to show how much different times were then for the Celtics compared to now even though it’s only been half a year.
Udoka Reaches Milestone as Rookie Head Coach
A rookie head coach making the NBA Finals is nothing new. In fact, it’s been a trend for the past half-decade or so. Udoka is the fifth rookie head coach to make the NBA Finals in his first year since 2015, joining the likes of David Blatt (2015), Steve Kerr (2015), Tyronn Lue (2016), and Nick Nurse (2019).
However, Udoka is the first rookie head coach in NBA history to win two Game 7s in his first playoff run, having beaten both the Heat and the Milwaukee Bucks in such circumstances.
What an incredible first year in Boston for Ime Udoka. 👏
After Brad Stevens had been promoted to Head of Basketball Operations for the Celtics in 2021, Udoka had big shoes to fill knowing the success Stevens had as Boston’s head coach. Not only has he filled them, but now he’s reached two milestones that Stevens never did: winning two Game 7s in one playoff run and making the NBA Finals.
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