Boston Celtics: The best defensive assignment for each of Brooklyn’s Big-3

The Boston Celtics had one of their worst campaigns in recent memory, finishing with a mere .500 record of 36-36, dealt with plenty of internal drama ranging from trade rumors to extreme coaching-change buzz, and endured countless injuries and other health ailments throughout their truncated 72-game regular-season schedule.

And, yet, here we are in late May, seeing the shamrocks gearing up for the playoffs.

Attaining the seventh seed by means of a 118-100 victory over the Washington Wizards in their one and only play-in game, the Cs now find themselves heading to Brooklyn for Game One of their best-of-seven round one series against the star-studded Nets.

Whenever playing against this superteam, an opposing team’s main objective should always be to try and figure out ways in which they can contain or, simply, slow down their menacing Big-3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving.

Like virtually every other team, Boston does not seem to have the perfect group of defensive combatants to seamlessly match the offensive firepower that this aforementioned trio possesses.

Sure, they have Marcus Smart, a 2x All-Defensive selection, but he’s just one man who can only guard one person at a time.

Obviously the 27-year-old will be designated to one of Brooklyn’s top-3 talents, but that still leaves the other two up for grabs.

As we already stated, no matchup will be perfect, but when it comes to the Boston Celtics figuring out their approach to slowing down Durant, Harden, and Irving the Houdini believes that there are starters that should be viewed as best equipped to squaring off against each of them:

Best Boston Celtics defensive assignment for Kevin Durant: Jayson Tatum

It’s what the fans want and, frankly, what the Boston Celtics need to have a chance at winning some games in this series.

Though not the best defender on the Cs, Jayson Tatum gives them the best chances of slowing down a guy like Kevin Durant based on his sound efforts on that side of the ball as well as his size in comparison to, say, Marcus Smart, their unequivocal best defender.

Leading the team in win-shares while being ranked third on the active roster in steals, Tatum is a solid contributor on the less glamorous side of the ball who, with his added bulk (added 10 pounds of muscle coming into this year) and impressive 6-11 wingspan seems to match up quite nicely with Durant from a physical standpoint.

In the only matchup in which they played against each other this season, KD came away from the night with 29 points on 56 percent shooting from the field and a whopping 75 percent shooting from deep so it’s evident that the 2x champions and former league MVP has given the budding superstar some trouble in the past.

That said, even with this, Tatum is still likely the best defensive assignment Brad Stevens can throw out on Durant to start out this series.