I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write this blog so soon into the playoffs, but here we are. It took the Celtics just two tries to drop a game at TD Garden, after losing there just four times throughout the regular season.
Their performance in the 111-101 loss in Game 2 was nothing short of disgusting (I’m writing this immediately after, so I’m still fired up).
Boston’s jersey selection for Wednesday’s home game?
Also disgusting.
Instead of electing to wear the traditional home whites, the Cs chose to roll with the road greens, despite the game being played on the parquet.
Now, this may not seem consequential, but trust me, there is a level of seriousness that comes along with dressing appropriately for the moment.
Sadly, at 9 a.m. Wednesday, I knew that the Celtics were going to show us some sub-serious behavior, and that’s exactly what we saw.
So far this postseason (as of 10:19 p.m. on Wednesday), home teams who have worn white are 7-0.
The only two teams who have lost games at home, the Cs and the Milwaukee Bucks, have elected to stray away from the traditional white jerseys.
It’s best not to test the basketball Gods during such a high-stakes time of year. It’s best to play the game the way it’s meant to be played.
Do we really think it’s a coincidence that 2023 Caleb Martin not only returned in Game 2, but shared his powers with his Miami teammates? Probably not.
The Heat maintained honor by wearing their traditional road black uniforms and were rewarded.
The Celtics are a franchise built on tradition, a winning tradition, a tradition where they wore white at home and green on the road.
Say what you want about Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he does, in fact, know ball. He shared some championship wisdom with us all, earlier this season when he ranted about everyone within the Milwaukee Bucks organization needing to be better. He even name-dropped the team’s equipment manager, explaining that even they need to be performing at the top level.
“Every single thing, everybody has to be better,” Antetokounmpo said back in January (h/t Eric Nehm). “Everybody. It starts from the equipment manager.”
Back in January, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic did a fantastic piece on the shift in NBA jersey trends.
Ironically enough, he spoke with Michael McCullough, who is the chief marketing officer for Miami.
McCullough gave some great insight into why the way teams dress for games has changed in the last several seasons, citing jersey sales as a key reason.
He explained that wearing different uniforms at home allows fans to see some different threads and can lead to more merchandise sales.
“That’s part of the whole lore of sports, that tradition,” McCullough told Vorkunov. “There’s room, I think, in sports to create new traditions. I like to think that’s what we’re doing, creating other opportunities for people to have another relationship with their team around what the players are wearing. And of course, it’s broadened out for us entire merchandise lines to support these uniforms and to support this second identity. It just becomes kind of who you are.”
The trend started to change in the 2017-18 season when Nike took over as the league’s uniform sponsor.
“Nike brought on a four-uniform system: the Association, a white jersey; the Icon, a dark jersey; the Statement, an alternate jersey; and the City Edition, which changes annually and has no set color scheme,” Vorkunov wrote.
While Nike may love to print money, I’d prefer that they stray their greed away from the NBA playoffs and keep their grubby hands off of this sacred time of year.
(If you like the way jerseys are now, then you’re untitled to your wrong opinion.)
