Boston Celtics: 3 wildcards who could go on to win Finals MVP

Boston Celtics player No. 2) Jaylen Brown

Now, there’s certainly an argument that could be made suggesting that Jaylen Brown should not be viewed as a wildcard candidate to take home Finals MVP this season should the Boston Celtics win the chip.

As an All-Star and the second-half of perhaps the most lethal wing duo in the entire association, the 25-year-old is already viewed as a franchise cornerstone/ building block for the C’s, so, in theory, it shouldn’t be all that shocking if he were to wind up taking home the honors.

That said, due to the bulk of attention that Jayson Tatum is going to get both from the media and the Warriors, there’s an argument to be made that Brown may be the most underrated player in this series and, to many of us at HH, he’ll likely be the most important piece to a potential championship run.

Tatum’s all but guaranteed to get his looks and game going in the series–after all, he is Boston’s go-to star who just brought home the league’s first-ever Eastern Conference Finals MVP–, thus making him a major reason why the team has a chance in the first place, but what happens around him is going to be the difference between lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy and being sent back to Massachusetts for the summer empty-handed and, it just so happens that what they have around him is a player who, on almost any other team, would be viewed as the clear-cut No. 1 option.

Him serving as a No. 2 option alongside a budding superstar could theoretically pave the way for a monstrous Finals and consistent highly impactful performances for his team.

In the highly pivotal round three (the hump that they’d been thwarted by three other times throughout the previous five seasons), outside of a few blunders here and there, Brown was a true difference-maker for the C’s in their ultimate advancement, as he boasted stellar per-game averages of 24.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and three assists on 49 percent shooting from the floor and 40 percent shooting from deep whilst also seeing a 40-burger performance along the way.

If he can produce at this kind of effectiveness, all while cutting down on some nasty turnovers and playing stout defense, assuming Tatum will be gobbled up by Golden State’s defensive scheme, Jaylen Brown could have a realistic shot at claiming Finals MVP.