After being ousted in the first round last season by the hands of the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics find themselves in a prime position to exact revenge in 2022, as they once again will be seeing the borough boys in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Interestingly enough, however, the roles have been completely reversed, as it is the C’s who come into the series with home-court advantage after claiming the No. 2 seed while Brooklyn had to fight their way into the league’s second season by taking part in the play-in tournament.
Moving forward, fans hope the parallels between this year and last year continue their reversal right on through to the team advancing on to round two and, based on the odds and predictions, many are under the impression that they will.
However, before we get ahead of ourselves and start planning for the conference semifinals, Boston must find a way to snag four wins in this upcoming best-of-seven series.
Despite the Nets coming in as the lower seed, they still have as good a shot as anyone to make the shamrocks sweat, as they come rolling in boasting a roster with two of the top players in the league in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
In order for Ime Udoka and co. to pull out the series win, they’re going to need all players producing at their very best, and, of those who are expected to see extended action, we believe there are 3 talents, in particular, that should be viewed as the team’s biggest X-factors:
Boston Celtics X-factor No. 1) Derrick White
Derrick White hasessentially been everything this team hoped he would be when Brad Stevens opted to trade Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, and a first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs in order to acquire him.
From his high-end defensive tenacity to his innate drive to make plays for others, the combo guard has proven to be an incredible complementary piece to Boston’s backcourt both alongside and when subbing out Marcus Smart.
Now, heading into the playoffs, the veteran must continue to serve as that trusty spark plug off the pine in order to give the Celtics that extra oomph to their rotation, and, based on his play towards the end of the season, it appears he’s coming into the series ready to provide some tremendous all-around contributions.
Though it took some time for him to find his stride on the offensive side of the floor upon coming to Boston, during the final ten games of the year White was pouring in some great production in all facets of the game, putting up 13.2 points, 4.2 assists, and 3.3 rebounds on 45.5 percent shooting from the field and 43.9 percent shooting from deep.
The C’s went 7-3 during this stretch.
If Derrick White can put up similar numbers while producing at a similar level of efficiency, the team’s reserve unit will be in great hands which, in turn, will give Brooklyn an entirely new aspect of Boston’s scheme to worry about.