Why the Boston Celtics are perfect for repeating as NBA champions

It's the best of both worlds – the confidence of knowing you can win anything after getting past the basketball hoop, and the incentive to avoid complacency and the rest of the basketball world that has tried to take the banner no. Destroying 18 parades, having something to prove and disrespecting superstars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Progeny of the Parquet have no shortage of motivation to become the first team since the 2017-18 Warriors to win two straight NBA titles and the first Boston sports team to win that title since the 2003-04 Patriots.

You remember when the Patriots won football games, right?

Tatum was mocked and recognized for his uninspired performance on the U.S. Olympic team as a superstar on the road, failing to see the field in two games and going 0-for-16 on jump shots. Brown was conspicuously passed over as Kawhi Leonard's replacement on the Olympic squad, despite winning the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP trophies.

The basketball cognoscenti put an asterisk next to the Celtics' championship because of who they played for and who they didn't. The Heat's Jimmy Butler missed the entire first-round series. Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was Hors de hoops for the final two games of the second-round series, and Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton was injured in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals and never returned. The Celtics defeated Dallas in five games and reached the confetti-covered top of the NBA, avoiding Denver and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić.

NBA icon and TNT broadcast analyst Shaquille O'Neal last month called the Celtics “the easiest run ever to this championship” and suggested they still need to prove they are truly committed to the championship.

Shaq inspired many epithets during his playing days. The Celtics can call him the big doubter.

But he is not alone.

Former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins supported those thoughts to some extent last month, saying, “Nobody in the NBA is afraid of the Boston Celtics right now.” Perk proclaimed that teams like the Knicks and 76ers are bolding their rosters in the offseason Plays increased because they believed the Celtics were up for grabs.

Franchise cornerstones Tatum and Brown with a chip on their shoulders are music to the ears of Celtics fans.

“I’m extremely motivated for obvious reasons,” Brown said at Celtics Media Day.

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens brought back 13 players from last year's team to try to recapture banner No. 19. Normally, remaining so static is a recipe for discomfort.

The Celtics story that led to Marcus Smart and Robert Williams being traded for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis was one of a complacent, self-aggrandizing, self-entitled group that behaved like champions without winning a championship.

But with the incentive to silence critics individually and collectively, and the maniacal Joe Mazzulla at the helm, boredom may be unlikely for a group that boasts the sixth-best points margin in NBA history (plus-10) in the regular season and postseason combined .72) and never lost more than twice in a row.

“They understand what their goal is,” Stevens said. “What we should have is the confidence to overcome anything if we have the right mentality and attitude.”

The team should also exhibit the Mazzulla mentality, the coaching version of the Mamba mentality. Rhode Island's best instills in his team a mentality that is fierce, fearless, focused, metaphysical and, if we're honest, a little bit bizarre.

He delivered the most Mazzulla quote ever on Monday when asked if he felt pressure to maximize that championship window given a looming ownership change and draconian CBA penalties designed to shorten the championship window.

“Zero, no pressure,” he said. “We'll all be dead soon, and it doesn't really matter anymore. So there is no pressure. You’re either going to win or you’re not.”

Uh, okay, Joe.

Mazzulla has adopted the Jedi mind trick attitude that the Celtics are not trying to repeat.

Whatever they believe, there will be challenges for the Celtics. They will be targeted and will be without Porzingis for the first part of the season. The big Latvian, who facilitated Brown's playmaking as an unlikely best friend last season, is still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered in the NBA Finals. However, he is in his rehab ahead of schedule and could be back before the end of the calendar year.

In his absence, the ageless Al Horford will face a heavier workload. The Celtics will go to backup center by committee with Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman and Neemias Queta. It's essential to get Horford, who hasn't played in the last two consecutive seasons, in one piece.

However, the Celtics were without Porzingis in 12 of their 19 playoff games last season and still managed to go 16-3, the second-highest postseason winning percentage since the NBA expanded to all best-of-seven games series in the 2002/2003 season.

It's going to be a nerve-wracking stretch for the Celtics, especially with their obsession/reliance on the 3-point shot. The Three For All C's plan to take even more shots from distance this year than they did last year, when they scored the most points per possession (1.22) in NBA history.

The math is clear, Mazzulla would tell you.

That's the mission.

“It depends on what you want to accomplish, and we’re trying to accomplish big things,” Tatum said. “We were so close… and we finally broke down the door.

“So, yeah, it feels different being up here as a champion, knowing what’s important and wanting to be at the top of the mountain as often as possible.”

The Celtics have the talent to return to the NBA summit and the motivation to call out their critics from there.

That's as perfect a combination as Larry Bird and Bill Walton operating the pick-and-roll, and it makes picking against them unwise.

Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cgasper and on Instagram @cgaspersports.