Shams Charania is Confident Jayson Tatum and Co. Will Overcome ‘Championship or Bust’ Expectations

Boston has been on the other side of ridicule the past few years as the team has had deep playoff runs that have ended in disappointment. However, The Celtics have managed to take a 2-0 lead over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. And Shams Charania seems to believe it is the Celtics responding to the ‘Championship or Bust’ take with the way the team has been playing so far.

In the past five years, the Boston Celtics have made it to the Conference and the NBA Finals twice. But because of the team’s lack of ability to close out series’, expectations from fans and the media have been either a championship from the team or consider it a bust and go into another rebuild, leading Shams Charania to weigh in on the Run It Back podcast.

“This being the Celtics year, the championship or bust expectations that were on this team from the beginning, they understood it, everyone knows it. It’s the elephant in the room.”

“You have to win under those circumstances and if they didn’t get the job done. Obviously, a lot of questions would be asked if this team is gonna stay together, what’re they gonna do?”

“The championship or bust expectations that were on [The Celtics] from the beginning, they understood it…”@ShamsCharania on the biggest storyline from Celtics being up 2-0 vs Mavs in the #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/0xHdnPOJtW

— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) June 10, 2024

Shams Charania pointed out the high expectations everyone has from this Boston squad. But that is also because of the amount of money the Celtics front office has invested in this team and anything other than a championship would be considered a failure.

The team signed Jaylen Brown to the biggest contract in NBA history so far along with an extension for Kristaps Porziņģis. Apart from Brown, the team has players like Derrick White, and Jayson Tatum’s contract coming up as well.

With Boston investing heavily into this roster as an ‘all-in’ move, there has been speculation if the team would stay together if they go on to lose in the NBA Finals. And by the looks of it, that does seem like a possibility.

Jayson Tatum and Co. leaving no stone unturned

The Boston Celtics have one of the best starting lineups currently in the NBA. The team features three All-Stars in their starting five, all of whom are more than capable of creating their offense and putting the team on their back, willing them to victory.

Each Celtics player comes with a different set of scouting instructions as to how to best defend him. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, even having two or more starters on the floor causes Dallas’ defense to collapse due to overlapping scouting reports.

The scouting reports don’t collide as much as the players on defense do when Boston is on the offense. The team’s primary option for scoring points has been Jayson Tatum, followed by Jaylen Brown, and so on.

But these NBA Finals have seen players like Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Brown taking over and stepping up to help their team clinch this series, something that the Dallas Mavericks have yet to come up with a plan for.

If the series continues to play out the way it has in the first two games, we might see the NBA Finals coming to a close in 4 games.