NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. MAVERICKS

June 5, 2024

Sam Hauser

Boston Celtics

Media Day

Q. What does it mean to be playing the Finals?

SAM HAUSER: Yeah, it's pretty special. Trying not to take it for granted. Not everyone gets this opportunity. So just trying to make the most of it, especially being on the path that I've been on. It's been like a wild ride almost. But it's been cool. Just trying to cherish every moment. You never know how long it's going to last.

Q. Did you think you would always get to this moment in the NBA?

SAM HAUSER: I definitely did not think early on I could get to this point in the NBA. I honestly didn't really know until I found a two-way contract and was able to show or improve myself here. It's been a lot of hard work, for sure.

Like I said before, I just try never to take it for granted.

Q. Back to the Pacers series, when your shots are not falling, what do you go back in the gym and work on? What is your mental checklist as a shooter?

SAM HAUSER: There's nothing like tangible that I switch out in my workouts or anything. It's just trying to stay confident, maybe going back and looking at highlights where I'm on a heater or something like that. Just to know that, like, I'm still the same guy, it's just shots aren't going in sometimes.

It happens to everybody in this game. That's why you play the game of basketball. That's why it's a team sport, not just an individual sport. I try to impact the game other ways. Obviously shooting is the loud impact that I make. But I always know that water finds its level. It usually regresses to the mean. Shots are bound to start falling.

Q. Any particular videos you go back to?

SAM HAUSER: Sometimes I just search up my name and watch the first couple videos that come up. Sometimes when you're in a hole or a slump like that, you just need something to bring you out of it.

Q. Now that you're here, in terms of finding that level of confidence and balancing it with overconfidence, what is the temperature of this team?

SAM HAUSER: I think we're just excited to get going. I think, I don't know, it's been eight or nine days since we played our last game. Everybody is anxious to get back on the court, play in front of these fans. I know the Garden is going to be rocking tomorrow. We're excited.

Q. Was there a moment of like, we're really here, we accomplished being here, or is it business as usual?

SAM HAUSER: Yeah, well, I think we all had a goal at the start of the year. We wanted to be at this point. I think each day we just treated it as its own entity, not look too far ahead.

We knew we had the talent, but it's more of like we got to go show it and prove it. Now we're here. We definitely celebrated getting back here, but now we're laser focused for tomorrow. Hopefully going to come out on top this time as opposed to two years ago.