UBUNTU: Success in the NBA

Measuring SUCCESS is very relative. For some it’s being able to afford Hermés bags, Chopard watches, or a sporty BMW M3 (guilty here). For some, it’s being at the helm of a multinational company; for some it’s simply educating and helping people (hats tip to Efren Peñaflorida); for some (like Philippine president-elect Homer Simpson Noynoy Aquino) it’s winning a presidential election… although this I strongly oppose… who, in his right mind would want to head a country like the Philippines—facing trillions of dollars in foreign debt, PhP300 Billion budget deficit, at least 20 million Filipinos starving, while basically earning a measly PhP60,000 a month in direct salary. Well, unless you count access to more than USD20 Billion of tax revenue each year as a measurement of success. But that’s another story.

For my NBA team—Boston Celtics—it’s nothing less than winning a title. For Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, it was a dream three years ago. But as part of the Celtics team they became champions in 2008, not because they were athletic but they worked as a team. The price of living that elusive dream to be NBA champs is giving up statistics, individualism, stardom—in other words, giving up individual EGOs to establish a COLLECTIVE EGO. The price of being called “champs,” is working as a team. In the 2010 NBA season, that’s what they tried to be. (Flashback: In 2009, Kevin Garnett, the team’s defensive pillar injured himself in the second half of the season, so go figure what happened to their campaign that year)

Coach Doc Rivers called the Celtics to be a TEAM. He adopted the African philosophy of UBUNTU—which focuses on people’s allegiances and relations to each other, emphasizing compassion and humanity. The Boston Celtics became the UBUNTU team with only one common goal: to win. Feared, envied, and most of the time hated by other teams in the NBA. The team’s mantra that was posted in the locker rooms read, “Individuals win games; Teams win titles.” It was an inspiring quote, something MBA schools can use to teach aspiring tycoons, or something generals can shout about as battle cry to their troops in war.

So what happened?

Unless you’re not into the NBA like my Scottish colleague who thinks basketball is boring, you know that the L.A. Lakers won the 2010 NBA Title. The NBA’s most storied franchises—Celtics and Lakers—make up one of the most famous (arch) rivalries in sports and they have 33 NBA championships between them. The Lakers won in 2009 and they still have Kobe Bryant who is by far the best baller in the world. Of course they were expected to win again this year. They did. But the story is not about them. It’s about a mediocre team (4th seed in the East) whom most people predicted to be out in the early rounds of the playoffs. It’s about that UBUNTU Celtics team who faced none other than the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

The Cinderella story didn’t end with a parade celebration in downtown Boston for the Celtics’ unprecedented 18th NBA title. But it was UBUNTU that brought them six minutes or five points away from that. Boston knocked out three heavyweights on its way to face the Lakers in the Finals. Three of NBA’s best players—Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard—and their teams all went down against the Celtics. How? Teamwork. It was beautiful to watch.

LeBron (King) James cannot carry his team alone, and this is the lesson these Celtics taught the world. Success, no matter how impossible, can be achieved with the proper mindset. For basketball, it is teamwork. Kobe Bryant scored 38 points in Game 5 of the Finals but they lost. Boston’s team had six players scoring at least 10 points in that game. That, my friends, is called teamwork. This is why other NBA teams are jealous of the UBUNTU: no other team is even close to resembling the level where these Boston Celtics compete when they are at their best. This philosophy was so strong that despite all the difficulties they faced all season, they remained resilient against the best teams in the NBA. It all paid off.

A lot of things went wrong in the last 15 minutes of the do-or-die Game 7 of the NBA Finals when the Celtics played poorly and the Lakers played like champs. But these Celtics already proved their point all along. No one picked them as the eastern conference champs; no one believed they could give the Lakers a challenge; no one expected them to live past Lebron and Dwight. UBUNTU did it. That’s what it really takes to win. That is the price of winning in the NBA.

In November, we might see a very different Celtics team, with some of its pieces new, and some old pieces replaced. But I believe their mindset will again take them to places no one expected them to reach. They will try to be champs again; most likely they will fail again. But I’m not betting against their chances. Because they have what it takes to win a title.

Success is relative… and with UBUNTU, to me this team succeeded.

Caveat: The author is obviously a Celtics fan.