Advertisement

‘We forget how young they are right now,’ says Celtics announcer Mike Gorman of Boston in the NBA Finals

1
Justin Quinn
·4 min read

There are few people who have seen more Boston Celtics games live than Mike Gorman, calling the vast majority of them for decades running as a broadcaster, much of it alongside beloved former Celtics player and coach-turned broadcaster Tommy Heinsohn.

With that intimate knowledge of the team and sport beloved to so many in the greater Boston area comes a perspective Gorman recently shared on an episode of WEEI’s “Toucher and Rich” show. The longtime Celtics fixture suggested that all the legacy talk and hand-wringing over whether the team’s young stars can break through to secure a title (before LeBron James or Michael Jordan even made the Finals, we might add) is perhaps overblown.

“I think we all forgot in them going from a dislikable bunch of guys who played spirited ball to a bunch of guys who played great and were the best team in the league for over a stretch of about 35 games,” he suggested.

“We forget how young they are right now,” Gorman observed. “(Jayson) Tatum’s 24, (Jaylen) Brown is 25, (Rob) Williams is 24, (Grant) Williams is 23, (Payton) Pritchard 24.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“You look at the Warrior’s roster and you see (Klay) Thompson is 32, (Stephen) Curry 34, Draymond Green 32, (Andre) Iguodala 38, (Kevon) Looney is even 27. You don’t win championships with 24- and 23-year-olds leading the way. That’s not a knock against these guys. I think that it suddenly dawned on me that this is this team is way ahead of schedule right now. And I think as fans we all get a little ahead of schedule, too, and putting a very high expectation level on them. Whereas I think Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Rob Williams — they are all going to see their best basketball two, three, four years from now, not necessarily right now. I think that might be the thing I leave this team with at the end of the year is, actually, you guys really overachieved. You got way past anything I thought you could do the first half of the season. If it doesn’t turn out well over these next two games, I still think this team really overachieved, way overachieved.”

“And look, the future is just ridiculously great because they got all these guys, the key guys, locked up for two, three years,” finished the Celtics broadcaster.

This is of course not to say the Celtics winning the title is out of the question given Boston plays Game 6 at home, giving them more than a puncher’s chance at forcing a Game 7 where anything can happen.

But whether you begin your consideration at the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, or even where the team’s main players are in terms of their careers, the Celtics shouldn’t be where they are right now.

Play hard, play loose, and take every ounce of ability to bear on winning the title. But do it in the context Gorman highlights above, and recognize that no matter how Game 6 and beyond plays out, the best is likely yet to come.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

[mm-video type=video id=01g5hpmxjbm728dm7phk playlist_id=01eqbzegwgnrje4tv2 player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g5hpmxjbm728dm7phk/01g5hpmxjbm728dm7phk-24b992b36c446a6ed99b8d9dba426be6.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=104459,104444,104440,104394]

[listicle id=104445]

[vertical-gallery id=104406]

[lawrence-related id=104444]

1

1