Last postseason, as the national media toiled on television, radio, and in print, concocting imaginary storylines to force drama upon the Boston Celtics, they succeeded. Fans across the Twitterverse and other social media platforms took the bait hook, line, and sinker. But they were the only ones.

The entire team was focused solely on winning a championship, and their internal efforts managed to keep the noise external. The result was Banner 18.

For a few blissful weeks, the Celtics enjoyed their stay at the top of the basketball world. As the rest of the NBA covered their whiteboards with ideas of how to take down Boston, they enjoyed a confetti-filled parade. But those blissful weeks were cut short.

Not long after green and white covered the streets of Boston, the colors red, white, and blue caused a whole new spectacle to begin hurdling toward Causeway at whiplash-inducing speeds. Derrick White was picked over Jaylen Brown for Team USA, Steve Kerr benched Jayson Tatum (twice), and the Olympics were chock-full of unruly Celtics takes.

Those patriotic colors and the synthetical drama that came with them made life significantly worse, but not for the Celtics—for the rest of the NBA.

Ever since the Olympics wrapped up, Tatum and Brown have been active. Brown recently released a song with Ferg, and Tatum opened a new basketball court in St. Louis. And they’ve both made it painfully clear that they are eager to run it back.

“We had a hell of a team last year,” Tatum told Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It was so fun to be a part of that—the journey that we had, how we kind of dominated the regular season and went 16-3 in the playoffs. It looked like it was easy, but it wasn’t. It was hard. Played some really good teams. 

“And it’s exciting to be able to run it back. Same team coming back — we’re even more motivated to win another one.”

“Last year is over, to be honest,” Brown told NBC Sports Bay Area. “We celebrated, we had a good time. It’s been an awesome summer. I’ve been having a great summer, by the way. But it’s over with. And now, it’s back to work. 

“Now, we got the target on our back. Everybody’s trying to come after us, and I’m like, ‘Come on.’ So, it’s back to work, and I’m looking forward to next season.”

The Celtics won Banner 18 because of their surplus of All-Star talent. But for as essential as White, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford were, Tatum and Brown were the heads of the snake, and they always will be.

As Brown took home the Eastern Conference finals and NBA Finals MVPs with clutch shot-making, Tatum’s all-around game spearheaded a deadly Celtics offense. It was a one-two punch that proved too dominant for the rest of the NBA.

And now the duo has more motivation than ever before.

Championship teams deal with hangovers by being put on a pedestal. The media props them up as victors, applauding their ability to secure the Larry O’Brien. The Celtics dealt with the opposite effect.

They spent so long trying to get over the hump and conquered the regular season at such an alarming level that they were almost expected to win the title. When they finally accomplished that goal, it was met with acceptance rather than recognition.

Tatum, Brown, and the rest of the team relished their time on duck boats. They popped champagne. They partied. They even went on a trip to Miami. But all of the drama and a complete lack of acclamation brought them crashing back down to earth.

And based on Tatum and Brown’s latest comments, the rest of the league should be absolutely terrified of that.