Boston Celtics: 3 reasons the Cs won the Eastern Conference Finals

Boston Celtics reason #3: Healthy enough

The Boston Celtics were far from fully healthy in the series. But they were healthy enough considering their competition. Jimmy Butler sat out the second half of game three and clearly wasn’t himself for games four and five, while Tyler Herro was sidelined/limited by a groin injury. P.J. Tucker, Max Strus, and Kyle Lowry were all banged up as well but played through it.

On the other side, Robert Williams was clearly not himself in game seven, and will gladly accept the extra rest that comes with reaching the finals. Marcus Smart said after the game that he’s at 65/70%, but that was good enough on Sunday night. Jayson Tatum suffered a stinger in game three but seems to be 100% or close to it now.

Smart missed two of the seven games, while White, Horford, and Rob Williams all missed one. White flew back to Boston before game two to welcome the birth of his firstborn, while Horford was placed in health & safety protocols before game one.

At this stage of the playoffs, almost everyone’s gonna be hurting. The Boston Celtics, although a bunch of their core missed games in this series, were healthy enough to put a competitive team on the court each and every night. Miami’s chances were limited once they suffered injuries, as they were clearly the team with less room for error in the first place.

It will be interesting to see how both Smart and Williams look in game one of the finals after this three-day break.