NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 1, 2022

Daniel Theis

Boston Celtics

Media Day

Q. This team is short on NBA Finals experience, but you have three German League championships. That's a very good league obviously. What have you been able to share with your teammates, and what have you been able to take from those GBL titles?

DANIEL THEIS: Like you said, it's obviously two different leagues, but it's experience being in a Final and playing for a championship.

Also we've been in Eastern Conference Finals before. We lost twice. I think our team's experience, those parts, ups and downs like the past couple years, playing the NBA Finals is new for everyone. But I think as a group, we're so close, and then hopefully it doesn't affect us in the first game tomorrow.

Q. What's different about this group that allowed it to get over the hump where previous Celtics teams came up just a little short?

DANIEL THEIS: I would say, especially after the rough start the team had early in the season, that everybody was just sitting, like putting together their heads and saying we've got to turn it around. When the team figured it out later, everybody was on the same page and everybody was on one string, especially on the defensive end. Teams were struggling to score against us.

I think that was the biggest key, that everybody was trusting each other, especially on the defensive end.

Offensively, we saw with Jayson and Jaylen obviously are great scorers, but also they are involved and they are making plays for others and getting everybody involved.

Q. What did you learn leaving the Celtics and doing a global tour and then coming back?

DANIEL THEIS: How special the whole franchise is, the people there, the teammates I had. Especially also like the first day I came to the States, it's all about winning. Part of it is pressure, too. But when I left, I was in Chicago a little bit and in Houston, a rebuild. It's a different story, like rebuild, and you don't really play for anything.

Coming back to the Celtics, I was just grateful. It's an opportunity to basically get another chance with the guys I played with for so many years. We have one goal, and now we are in the Finals and obviously have the chance to achieve this goal, what we have been having for the last four or five, even Smart, eight years he is with the Celtics.

Q. How did it change your approach or your perspective on playing in the NBA?

DANIEL THEIS: Nothing has changed. You can't take anything for granted. Obviously when you lose in the playoffs in a certain round, obviously everybody says, "I'll be back here, we'll be back here next year." It's not easy to come back.

Like I said, we lost two Eastern Conference Finals. I was there, and it's not easy to come back to this stage. Just be grateful, enjoy the moment and leave everything out there.

Q. How has it been to reunite with this group?

DANIEL THEIS: For me, it was just easy coming back here. When I had the chance or when I was coming back to the Celtics and then joining those guys, they were already on a run. They turned around the whole season. It was just easy and fun and a joy to come back to these guys and just be a part of this group.

Q. At what point in your career did you realize that the NBA was a very real possibility for you?

DANIEL THEIS: Obviously whoever starts playing basketball want to play in the NBA. I didn't want to rush it when I was younger, just come over here and then go through the process with playing in the G League and then getting maybe cut and waived and all those things. So I did it step-by-step and developed and improved as a player in Germany and when the time was right, I chose to come over here.