Boston coach Ime Udoka says his team don't fear any potential opponent after they completed a 4-0 series sweet of Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
The Celtics are the only team who have managed to complete a first round series sweep and they are 4/1 to go all the way and win the NBA Championship outright.
Nets disposed in style
Boston secured second seed in the Eastern Conference to set up a meeting with Brooklyn, and there were suggestions some of their rivals were playing to avoid finishing second in a bid to swerve a first round match-up against the Nets.
Udoka stressed his players were always keen to finish the regular season in as high a position as possible and their decision to fight for the second seed has now proven to be a wise one.
"We said it quite openly, we're not running from anybody and we'll let the chips fall where they may," Udoka told the Boston Herald.
"We want to play our best basketball going into it. Obviously on the final day [o the regular season], some teams did what they did and we had to win because we could still go from two to four [seed] so we still had things to play for.
"The overall message that I gave the team and they relayed back to me is we're not scared of anybody and we're not running from anybody.
"If you are going to win, you have to go through certain teams at certain times anyway so might as well get a really good test early. I think it will help us going down the line."
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Boston await next challenge
Boston claimed a 116-112 win at Brooklyn on Monday to become the first team to reach the second round, despite a huge performance from Nets star Kevin Durant as he led the scoring with 39 points.
The Celtics will play the winner of the series between Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls in the next round. The Bucks hold a 3-1 series lead ahead of Game 5 in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
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