Boston Celtics: the C’s 5 greatest villains from the 2010s

The villain who became stronger after defeating him: LeBron James

The Kevin Garnett & Paul Pierce-led Boston Celtics teams were to LeBron James what the “Bad Boy” Pistons were to Michael Jordan. Boston knocked out LeBron’s Cavs from the postseason both in 2008 and 2010.

After the loss in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, where, at the time, James played the worst playoff game of his career in game five (until game four of the 2011 NBA Finals), he must’ve gone to the same place Ra’s al Ghul trained Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins because, after that series loss to the shamrocks, it was not a thing he ever did again.

While on the Miami Heat, LeBron beat the Celtics in 2011 (Rondo’s elbow got dislocated) and 2012 (game six was an absolute annihilation in which James had 45 points & 15 rebounds and it’s easily one of the top two or three games of his career). Then, back with the Cavaliers, James bested the Cs in 2015 (Boston had no business being in the playoffs), 2017 (Cleveland was just much better….whatever), and 2018 (the Celtics shot 17.9 percent from three in game seven).

He even beat KG and Pierce in 2014 when they were members of the Nets which kind of feels like a Celtics loss. These games hurt, especially when you consider the fact that Boston literally broke LeBron until he was able to come back like the Terminator and never lose to them in the playoffs again.

Now, he’s on Boston’s historic rival in the Los Angeles Lakers, making him even more villainous.

Nothing would bring more satisfaction for a Boston Celtics fan than to end this weird NBA season with crushing LeBron James as a member of the Lakers in the NBA Finals.