A thing to consider about consuming sports media is that someone who has three or four hours of radio airtime to fill every day, or a podcast to produce, or makes frequent television appearances, eventually is going to run out of interesting/entertaining/accurate things to say.
But he or she can’t say to their boss “I’ve got nothing, I’m going golfing,” which is how we end up with a situation that’s developed recently in which pundits have (supposedly seriously) debated whether the Boston Celtics upcoming NBA championship should even count, because their victory will be so easy.
Yes, the Celtics were the odds-on favorites entering the playoffs at +160, and they have cruised so far (12-2 through three rounds), but their opponent will feature Kyrie and Luka.
But, you object, Dallas has two great players and the Celtics have Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingas (assuming his calf is good), plus superlative defence from Jrue Holiday and Derrick White.
You know what? You make a good point.
Celtics' 07-08 Championship Team
It puts one in mind of the last Celtics championship team, in 2007-08, led by Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, the first Boston trio to be referred to in bold type as the Big Three, though Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish were pretty good together, and so were Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and KC Jones.
Entering play in the fall of 2007, the Celtics had missed the playoffs two years in a row, but general manager Danny Ainge had made some dramatic offseason moves. On draft day in June, Ainge traded the fifth pick in the first round and two middling players to Seattle for All-Star sharpshooter Allen and a second-round pick.
Then in July, Boston made the single largest trade for one player in NBA history, obtaining Garnett, the 2004 MVP and a ten-time All-Star, for five players, two first-round picks, cash considerations and a two-quart crock of Boston baked beans.
Ainge was obviously all in. He then made a flurry of moves and attempted moves to replenish the roster, including asking Reggie Miller to come back from his retirement of two years and join the Celtics as a reserve. Miller said he strongly considered the offer, but announced in August that he would stay retired.
Loaded, the Celtics posted a record of 66-16, and made the best single-season turnaround in NBA history. Garnett was defensive player of the year and Ainge the executive of the year, and the Celtics also sold out every home game, just like the Red Sox used to when they were good.
Unlike this year, though, once the playoffs began in ’08, the Celtics found the going much harder, taking seven games to eliminate both Atlanta and Cleveland, then six to oust Detroit. In fact, Boston played the most postseason games a team had ever played, 26, setting the record in Game 6 of the Finals as they won the championship, the first for the Celtics in 22 years.
“The two teams that had previously held the record of 25 — the 1994 New York Knicks and 2005 Pistons — had both gone on to lose their trips to the NBA Finals in seven games,” said NBA.com. “Boston had other plans. In stunning fashion, the Celtics would blow the Lakers out with a 131-92 victory — the 39-point margin of victory breaking the record for the largest in an NBA championship-clinching game.”
And 16 years later, there are some similarities to how this edition of the Celtics was built, this time with Brad Stevens pulling the strings, though this team has made the playoffs for the last nine years in a row.
In June of last year, Stevens sent Marcus Smart to Memphis as part of a three-team trade that netted Porzingas. Then, in a move reminiscent of the one that brought KG to Boston, if not quite as startling, the Celtics parted ways with two players and two first-round picks in exchange for All-Star guard Jrue Holiday.
Now, they looked formidable.
“The Boston Celtics weren't an obvious candidate to make major noise during the 2023 NBA offseason, but they cranked up their activity volume anyway," Bleacher Report opined in its season preview. "Despite making three trips to the conference finals in four years—or maybe because of the inability to punctuate any of those trips with a title—the Shamrocks made some major changes to the roster around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown."
“Marcus Smart, Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon were all traded away, while Grant Williams bounced in free agency. Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday were brought onboard, perhaps giving Boston more top-level talent only without as much depth behind it.”
As in 2007-08, the ‘23-24 Celts posted the best regular season record in the league (qualifying for the playoffs with a month to spare), but have obviously been much more efficient in the playoffs.
In ‘07-08, Boston had the league’s top ranked defense and was tenth in offense. This year, the green and white is second at the defensive end and the best in the league on offense. Yikes.
Oddsmakers respected this year’s Celtics as soon as Stevens finished his dealing. Boston was +400 in the preseason, +225 at the end of the regular season, and as they’ve dispatched playoff opponents, they’ve gone from +160 to +110 to -150.
Assuming Porzingas plays – maybe even without him - who’d bet against them?
