They were the team to beat from the start. They ended it far ahead of every other team in the standings. The only thing left for these Celtics was to win it all and now they’ve done so, in five games. No qualifications necessary to sum up this season: the Celtics did indeed dominate. Truly: it was their year. Something else to add is that no individual player on the team dominated. The wisdom of relying heavily on a superstar, or giving up depth to add one or two others, took a hit. In the wake of Boston’s victory, I find myself even more interested in the shrewd moves and risks, the yearslong development and luck, necessary to construct a sturdy, balanced championship team and not an expensive, splashy, high-expectation, fragile “super team.”
Though he could barely make a 3 for a long time during this series and fouled out of game 3, Luka Dončić is sure to get his points. After him, it’s Kyrie Irving, who isn’t guaranteed to provide 20- or 30-plus points a night (he had trouble in Boston). After him, I couldn’t say which Maverick would reliably contribute on the offensive end. But what fascinated me about the Celtics is that they never had one threat to target. Jaylen Brown, Finals MVP, might have a relatively quiet night, Jayson Tatum’s own 3-point shooting percentage might plummet, and it never seemed to be fatal. Kristaps Porzingis, in his first game back from injury before suffering another injury in game 2, played like a potential Finals MVP. Derek White (who had his face smashed into the floor, leaving him bloodied with a chipped tooth, in game 5), Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard (with the dream shot from half court in game 5): always poised, aggressive, and ready to make up the difference. And Brown and Tatum don’t just score but can do most everything.
With
18 championships, the Celtics have become the winningest team in the league. 18!
So, this offseason, the most important conversation to be had is about how the Warriors are going to catch up, dammit!
