The NBA had a panel of 20 ESPN basketball experts predict the Finals’ outcome, and 15 of them favored the Golden State Warriors to win over the Boston Celtics. This series has not even begun but Boston is already emerging as the underdog in this fight.
The theme of being counted out and having to believe in themselves has been a consistent theme throughout the 2021-22 season and playoffs. It started from the C’s pushing through a 20-21 start to begin their campaign to become the best story in the second half of the year with a stellar turnaround to finish the season with a record of 51-31.
Boston would complete the transformation from play-in bound to contention bound by ending the year with a 31-10 record after January 6th. They are now in the NBA finals with a real chance at Banner 18 without an amazing playoff run to boot as well.
A run that saw them accept the challenge other teams dodged in Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and the Brooklyn Net by sweeping them handedly — showing furthermore that team basketball outshines individualism once again. The Cs are not a track team and they do not run away from anybody.
The Eastern Conference saw the defending champion, Milwaukee Bucks team led by arguably the consensus best player in the world, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even though that team was without their other All-Star in Khris Middleton, it was still a very tough and formidable challenge.
The Boston Celtics have dealt with a myriad of injuries themselves in Robert Williams, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and even Jayson Tatum played through troubling pain in his shoulders. Each team was equally beaten up, I say with certainty.
The Cs lost Game 1, bounced back to tie it, went down 2-1, and bounced back again to tie it. Then, they lost a pivotal game five on their home floor, and doubt started to cast in as most of the media and even some fans wrote the team off in terms of winning the series. They would go to win both games six and seven to clinch an ECF birth.
The Eastern Conference Finals were no stranger to adversity. Boston lost two of their three home games in the series to a stout number one seeded, Miami Heat team led by the brilliance of Jimmy Butler.
The common theme of this team is the embodiment of resiliency. The Celts have not lost two in a row all playoffs and they are the best road team in the playoffs. This lead to them being able to steal Game seven in a hostile environment in Miami.
Here are 3 things that will help the Boston Celtics win the NBA finals:
No. 1: Recent history versus Golden State Warriors is favorable for the Boston Celtics
In the Steve Kerr coaching era for the Golden State Warriors, only one NBA team has a winning record against the Dubs. The Boston Celtics are 9-7 against this dynasty. Recent history in regular season matchups are all we can really gauge for context in how these teams fare with each other.
One of the most enamoring matchups is Marcus Smart’s ultimate task of guarding Western Conference Finals MVP, Stephen Curry. A task that the Celtics six-foot-four guard has handled admirably well since coming into the league in 2014. The Warriors superstar struggles mightily when Smart is the closest defender in proximity to him, mustering an inefficient 29% shooting in those situations.
Now, the Warriors aim to set screens to avoid the inevitable matchup of these too knowing the recent history, but every turn this Cs team is topped with elite defenders and particularly highly effective in guarding the perimeter.
The Celtics run a defense of high versatility that gives them the utmost comfortability to switch everything with stout defenders like the DPOY, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Grant Williams, Al Horford, and Robert Williams. It is tough to find an imperfect blemish in the top-rated defense in the association since the new year.
Jayson Tatum is averaging superstar numbers across two games this season vs Golden State, with 26.5 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists per game on 43% shooting, 33% from the 3-point line and 94% from the free-throw line.
Even when the ECF MVP is not hitting his shots, he impacts the game in a plethora of other areas such as defense, rebounding and passing.
Jaylen Brown is averaging 23 points, 8 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 45% shooting, 40% from beyond the arc and 66% from the stripe in two games vs the Warriors.
This year, Steph has gotten his points in two matchups with Boston but on a miserable efficiency at nine for 25 shooting. Making the C’s one of the better defenses designed to slow the former MVP down.