Ime Udoka is not surprised that the Celtics made the championship leap without him

Celtics

“Happy for them, for sure, and not surprised.”

Ime Udoka led the Celtics to the NBA Finals during his only season in Boston, but his team came up short against the older, wiser, Steph Curry-led Golden State Warriors.

The Celtics continued to chase their goal and wound up back in the Finals last year without Udoka. With a revamped roster and a new style under Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics brought home their NBA-record 18th title last season.

Udoka, who now coaches the Houston Rockets, said he was pleased to see the Celtics win the championship and added that he could see it coming.

“Happy for them, for sure, and not surprised,” Udoka said before his Houston team lost 109-86 to the Celtics Friday night. “It was coming regardless, so taking the steps that they had before I got there and then the year when I was there.”

“Obviously falling short that year fueled everybody to get back and motivated to get it done when they got there,” he added. “So, extremely excited for them and not surprised by the jump they took.”

The things that held the Celtics back in that 2022 Finals loss played in their favor during the 2024 Finals victory, Udoka said. The once-green and inexperienced Celtics grew into seasoned champions. They played like it against Dallas last year.

“The growth isn’t just the physical, it’s the experience that they’ve gone through, had to go through,” Udoka said. “But, yeah, IQ and experience are one in the same and just being there at times that hurt us in that series.”

“Some of the guys that were there for Golden State, you could see that but once you kind of got over that hurdle of being there the first time, you knew what was coming,” he continued. “So, the physical, obviously they have all the tools there and they’ve taken all the leadership roles so the IQ and the experience is really what kind of propelled them to take the next step.”

TV cameras captured Udoka exchanging some words with Payton Pritchard during the game. Pritchard and Udoka are both Oregon natives. The Celtics guard said the relationship with Udoka was formed before the coach came to Boston.

“It’s all love,” Pritchard said with a wide smile. “I’ve known a lot of those guys since I was a little, little kid so they’ve seen me starting off playing basketball since I was like 10-years-old. So, it’s a lot of love there and it’s like family.”

Mazzulla, a former Udoka assistant, said he picked up some knowledge from his predecessor.

“When you’re able to work for a guy that has been in the league for such a long time, you’re able to understand the ebbs and flows of a season,” Mazzulla said. “The way he navigated an NBA locker room, the way he navigated an NBA season, there’s stuff that he just had a knack for because he played and he coached so you’re just able to learn from that.”