Smolar: Celtics deservedly NBA Champions

If you’ve been following the NBA playoffs at all you almost certainly have noticed that a lot of fans and analysts have been saying that the Boston Celtics postseason run has been filled entirely with luck and that they had a “mickey mouse” path to their 18th title. Their reasoning for that take has largely been about their opponents dealing with injuries to their top players when they faced off.

In the first round it was the Heat missing Jimmy Butler, in the conference semifinals it was Cleveland dealing with a slew of players banged up, most notably Donovan Mitchell and in the conference finals Tyrese Haliburton unfortunately missed the final two games after injuring his hamstring. While it is hard to deny that Boston’s opponents got an incredible string of bad luck on the injury front, it doesn’t change that the Celtics earned this championship.

For starters, Boston was clearly the league’s best team all season. They won 64 games in the regular season, seven more than any other team in basketball and 14 more than the next closest team in the Eastern Conference. You simply don’t win 64 games by accident.

They followed that up by only losing three playoff games, giving them a 80-21 overall record for the season. Their total win percentage of .792 ranks fifth among NBA Champions within the last 30 years, only trailing two Bulls teams from the 90s and two of the Warriors’ recent championships. Again, that kind of dominance doesn’t happen by accident.

They were also second in the league in scoring and fifth in defense. They were well rounded and deep in all the right areas. While much of their core remained the same from prior years when they went on lengthy playoff runs before falling short, there were two key additions that finally put them over the top. Bringing in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis over the offseason gave Boston everything they needed to finally get over the hump and obtain banner 18.

Holiday made a huge difference with his defense and intangibles just as he did in Milwaukee a few seasons ago. He gave Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving fits throughout the entire finals and averaged close to 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists on incredible shooting efficiency (54/42/100) during the series. Nobody would’ve imagined Holiday being on the Celtics in early September but it’s safe to say Boston isn’t complaining about Milwaukee trading for Damian Lillard and having to let go of Holiday in the process.

Porzingis meanwhile did deal with injury issues all season long and throughout the playoffs but was a key piece of Boston’s success when healthy. Averaging over 20 points per game on over 51% shooting from the field with close to two blocks per game during the regular season is nothing to scoff at. His size and shooting touch is enough to give any team problems. While the Celtics managed just fine without him, when he is on the floor it is just another of many players teams have to contend with when facing Boston.

Boston always had all the ingredients to win a championship this year. They had two identified all-stars (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown), a true point guard who knows his role (Holiday), a rim protector with scoring ability (Porzingis), other key veterans who contributed major minutes (Derrick White and Al Horford) and playoff experience from all their prior postseason runs. Sure, they may have gotten some luck with no major injuries on their end while their opponents can’t say the same but you ultimately need some luck to win a title in any sport. The Celtics proved throughout 82 regular season games and 19 playoff games that they were always capable of winning it all. They would ultimately finish the job by easily taking care of a team that beat three of the Western Conference’s top four seeds.