2 Boston Celtics players who must step up in the NBA Finals
By Joseph Celia
The Boston Celtics are heading back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.
It did not happen overnight. The road to how they got here should really give C’s fans hope.
Boston was projected to be an improved squad heading into this season. They hired Ime Udoka, whose main goal was to change the culture in a positive way. They traded away Kemba Walker, added Al Horford, and other complementary pieces to strengthen their depth.
On January 6th, the team sat at 18-21, barely in the play-in tournament. It looked like another lost season. They were called soft, disinterested, and unmotivated, and the word across the league involved the idea of shaking the team up with significant moves.
The Boston Celtics used that as motivation to get their act together.
Since this point in time, including this postseason, Boston is 45-16.
The C’s soared from play-in contention to the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings. This postseason, they were faced with a very tough road to how they got here today. The Brooklyn Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Miami Heat stood in their way as their first three playoff opponents.
Not only did they defeat all three teams and advance to the championship round, but these squads also featured Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jimmy Butler, & Bam Adebayo, some of the league’s best talents.
We now sit and wait for the upcoming series vs the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs have been in five of the last seven NBA Finals and won three of them. Stephen Curry and co. are hungry for their fourth title and present a whole different animal than Boston’s previous playoff opponents.
As dominant as the Celtics have been, the Warriors will present many challenges for them. Players like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford will for sure come up big in this series, but Boston needs all the help they can get from the rest of their supporting cast.
There are 2 specific players who will need to step up if Boston wants to hang up Banner 18 at the TD Garden: