While other dynasties are seemingly coming to an end, a new one is rising

The Boston Celtics dynasty could be emerging right as the powerhouses of the league are on the decline

It took only four meetings between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors for both teams to start looking vulnerable. And it couldn’t come at a more perfect time for Brad Stevens and his Celtics.

While both teams have had a tight grip on their respective conferences for the past four years, this year exposed the vulnerability and the mortal side of both the Cavaliers and the Warriors: teams that have been treated as divine for the past few years.

These playoffs were not like the previous years: Cleveland only lost one playoff game last year before the finals while the Warriors went undefeated up until game 4 of the finals. This year, however, the Warriors lost a couple in the first two rounds and had to endure a 7 game series against Houston.

Cleveland, on the other hand, had to endure two separate game sevens before reaching it to the finals. Through these playoffs we have seen the weaknesses of both teams unearthed. Both the Celtics and the Pacers tested the Cavaliers ability to maintain fluid defensive rotations.

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Often times, the Cavaliers were too slow and old too rotate to the open man giving their opponent good looks. The Celtics and Pacers both failed in hitting those open shots in their game 7 loses. On the flip side, the Rockets, by switching on every screen, forced he Warriors into a lot of iso-ball situations.

Of course, the Warriors have some of the best scorers the league has ever seen so they were able to overcome this tactic, but it stripped them of their identity as a team that played pure basketball, with constant movement and ball movement.

It took a while before we could surely state that these teams are indeed beatable, but these playoffs have shown that the hegemony that the Warriors and even the Cavaliers posses over the rest of the league seems to be coming to and end.

And it is all brilliantly following Danny Ainge’s plan. All those who scoffed at Ainge for not making moves for Jimmy Butler, Paul George, or even DeMarcus Cousins failed to understand what Danny Ainge firmly believed, that no move he could make at the moment would place his team at a higher level than the Warriors or even the Cavaliers for that matter.

Danny Ainge stayed reserved and held on to all his assets until he finally cashed them all in this summer and gave us the fireworks that Celtics fans were promised. Danny Ainge sensed weakness in both juggernauts that didn’t become apparent until a whole year later.

Now, going foreword, the Celtics have a roster composed of a 20 year old phenom in Jayson Tatum that appears to be a future MVP, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, Kyrie Irving, and former all-star Gordon Hayward: a player that most Celtics’ and NBA fans seem to forgot how good he truly is.

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The Celtics are poised to take control of the Eastern conference and the entire league for that matter all because Danny Ainge waited for the right moment to strike. The Celtics will be at their strongest when the greatest team of this decade is on the decline. Danny is playing 4d chess while the rest of the league is playing checkers.

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