Not so much, their captain said.
"I’m really not that proud of this, truthfully," Paul Pierce told the media in a surprisingly candid moment following the Celtics' 94-85 Game 6 win. "Our goal was to win a championship. We didn’t say we wanted to come into this year and beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. Our goal is a championship."
It's the kind of mentality that comes with building a team around a core group of players with championship-winning experience. Pierce, alongside Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and the rest of the Celtics left over from this team's 2008 title run, have been to the top of the mountain before. They've forgotten how to settle for anything less. They want to get back.
"We can be excited for one night about winning a game, winning a series," Pierce said. "But I don’t look at it like this made our season. The only thing that’s going to make our season is winning a championship. We have those types of goals around here. You look at some teams that get moral victories for hanging around in a series or winning a series — not here in Boston. We only get excited when we put that banner up."
Earlier in his career, the Celtics' captain might have been singing a different tune. He was a raw 24-year-old kid when he reached his first Eastern Conference finals in 2002, back when it was Antoine Walker and Kenny Anderson by his side, not Allen and KG. Back then, it was a thrill just to be there. But experience has made Pierce a tougher, more determined man. Exactly the kind of man you want leading a Celtic team that's just drawn one step closer to another championship.
By and large, these are still the same guys who carried this franchise two seasons ago to championship banner No. 17. It's now beginning to sink in for them that banner No. 18 isn't far off — that there's a ghost of a chance for this team to once again reach the top of the world.
Regardless of the Celtics' past successes, their focus now is on moving forward, not on reflecting.
"Not celebrating," Garnett said. "I think if anything, everyone is going to go home and relax with their families tonight. Get ready for tomorrow, though. You know, we get these massive books, and you've got to know your coverages and all the schemes that come with them. So tomorrow, it’s back in the classroom, getting ready. Tonight, it’s going to be a relaxed night and get ready for tomorrow."
What lies ahead is an Orlando Magic team that's plowed through the first two rounds of the playoffs with unbelievable force. Behind the strength of Dwight Howard inside and the dynamic inside-outside nature of their offense, they've cruised to eight straight wins over Charlotte and Atlanta. They've been more than unbeatable — more like untouchable.
But by now, being an underdog shouldn't faze the Celtics in the least. They've been fighting for months against a stubborn public perception that they were too old, too sluggish, too inconsistent. They went into a second-round series that no one thought they could win, and they won it in convincing fashion, closing with three straight victories over the NBA's best regular-season team.
There are no longer questions about this team's work ethic or its will to win. As the Celtics plow forward to round three, they know where they stand.
"I’m confident we’re going to get the effort," coach Doc Rivers said. "We’ve done that. But I keep pushing our guys about focus. We’ve exhibited at times that we let our guard down. That’s always a concern, and I’m always worried about that. But I guarantee you [Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy] is worried about that all the time.
"But I can guarantee you right now, they’re focused with their effort, and we’re going to get that."
Shocking the world and knocking off the Cavaliers was a tremendous step. But it's over now, and there's a tough road still ahead. To these Celtics, that's all that matters.
