When we think about the Celtics’ buildup to the 2024 championship, very rarely would the name Nik Stauskas come up. The Canadian guard is your typical NBA journeyman, having been moved between NBA and G League teams. But his final moment of NBA glory brought him close to a championship. It also gave him a front-row seat to a defining season for the Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum Celtics.

In an exclusive interview with Casino Guru, the former Boston Celtics guard provided a chilling eyewitness account of the moment the 2022 NBA Finals shifted in favor of the Golden State Warriors. Stauskas, who was a member of the Celtics squad that fell to Stephen Curry & Co. in six games, threw it back to Game 4 of that series. He described a stark contrast between the two benches during the closing minutes of the game that served as the turning point for Curry’s fourth championship run.

Stauskas recalled the high-stakes atmosphere at TD Garden as Boston sat just minutes away from a 3-1 series lead. “This is when I was with the Celtics. We were up 2-1 in Boston, maybe three minutes left in the game… we’re three minutes away from going up 3-1, which, psychologically, we would feel like the Championship is ours,” Stauskas told Casino Guru.

As diehard fans would remember, a Celtics timeout revealed a chaotic huddle led by Ime Udoka. Stauskas claims he watched from the outside because he was a mere role player. He saw Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Al Horford talk over each other and throw out plays. Stauskas’ eyes strayed to the other end of the floor.

His team was a haunting contrast to the ice-cold demeanor of the Warriors’ superstar. “I turned over and I looked to the other end, to the Warriors’ side, and I see Steph Curry, and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. Steph Curry was sitting there, his arms crossed. He wasn’t even breathing hard. He was so calm and so collected.”

It wasn’t just Curry. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson showed chilling veteran poise on the bench. In that moment, Stauskas realized something the star core of the Celtics hadn’t. It would shift the trajectory of the 2022 finals.

This moment in Game 4 echoes a recurring lesson in NBA championship history: young, supremely talented teams often need to experience the sting of defeat against more seasoned opponents to develop the mental edge required to close out titles.

A striking parallel is the 2012 NBA Finals, when the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder- featuring a 23-year-old Kevin Durant, 23-year-old Russell Westbrook, and 22-year-old James Harden- faced the more experienced Miami Heat led by LeBron James (in his prime but with fresh scars from the 2011 Finals loss), Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. The Thunder burst out to a 1-0 series lead in their first Finals appearance, showcasing explosive athleticism and scoring.

Yet, as the series progressed, Miami’s veteran composure shone through in clutch moments- calm executions, timely stops, and contributions from role players like Shane Battier and Mike Miller that exploited OKC’s occasional over-eagerness and lack of Finals seasoning.

The Heat ultimately won in five games, with LeBron earning Finals MVP honors. Derek Fisher, the five-time champion brought in mid-season specifically to mentor OKC’s young core, later reflected on how that experience was invaluable, even in defeat- it taught the Thunder stars what true championship pressure feels like and what it takes to stay composed when everything is on the line.

Stephen Curry’s championship experience overthrew the young Celtics

After six seasons in the NBA and a combined eight years of basketball in his native Canada, the US, and the EuroLeague, Nik Stauskas retired in 2022. Reaching the NBA finals before that was the pinnacle of his career. In that series, he learned just how inexperienced the Celtics still were compared to the 3x champions they were facing.

The revelation from Stauskas highlights the immense pressure that burdened a young Celtics core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who were then only 24 and 25. The Celtics led 2-1 heading into Game 4 in Boston.

Stauskas saw a lack of agitation on the Warriors’ side that was evident in the Celtics. The Dubs, led by Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, looked like they were playing a routine regular-season game. “Their whole bench… they’re all just sitting there. No one was yelling anything, no one was breathing. Everyone was just very calm,” Stauskas added.

With roughly three minutes remaining, the scoreboard told the story of Boston’s precarious position: the Celtics clung to a slim 94-90 lead. What followed was a devastating 17-3 run by the Warriors over the game’s final stretch, with Stephen Curry accounting for 10 of those points, including a dagger three-pointer that put Golden State ahead for good and silenced the TD Garden crowd.

Curry, who had been relatively quiet early but exploded for 14 points in the third quarter alone, delivered in the clutch: back-to-back threes and precise playmaking that fueled the surge.

The Warriors outscored Boston 28-19 in the fourth quarter overall, turning a potential 3-1 series lead into a heartbreaking 107-97 defeat. As Stauskas recalled, the contrast in composure was stark- the Celtics’ frantic energy met the Warriors’ unflinching calm, and experience prevailed.

That sequence not only tied the series at 2-2 but shifted the momentum irreversibly, as Boston never recovered the same level of confidence in the remaining games.

Stauskas admitted that the disparity in composure broke his faith in the series right then and there. “I remember going back to a locker room and just feeling like we had lost the series, and because of that certain level of calmness, I lost my faith that we were going to win at that point.”

The Warriors would go on to win games 4 and 5, clinching their fourth championship with panache. Meanwhile, a young Celtics core had to find its footing for two more seasons before winning banner #17.

Now, as Tatum returns from a 10-month Achilles rehab in 2026, Stauskas believes that very championship experience is what will finally separate the Celtics from East contenders like the Pistons and Knicks.