Why Celtics are higher geared up to repeat than earlier 5 champs initially appeared on NBC Sports activities Boston
The Celtics hope to develop into the primary repeat champions for the reason that 2017-18 Warriors, and so they’ve obtained no scarcity of current examples to look at within the hopes of avoiding what can go mistaken.
Just one different time in NBA historical past (from 1975-80) has there been six straight distinctive champions, and the C’s simply prolonged that run final season, following the Nuggets, Warriors, Lakers, Bucks, and Raptors.
So what can we study from the 5 groups that did not repeat? Fairly a bit, truly.
The Raptors are straightforward. They had been a Kawhi Leonard one-off, and when he left for the Clippers in the summertime of 2019, he took Toronto’s title-defending hopes with him. The Raptors gambled brilliantly on one yr of Leonard, and it paid off with the final word prize. It bears little relevance to the Celtics, whose stars are well-established and never going anyplace.
Then there are the Warriors and Lakers. You possibly can lump them collectively, as a result of they suffered the identical problem: age.
LeBron James turns 40 this December, and though he has maintained an MVP stage of play far longer than anybody in historical past – he is the NBA’s Tom Brady at this level – there comes a time the place carrying a franchise is an excessive amount of, particularly contemplating all of the years he spent as Cleveland’s 1, 1-A, and 1-B. Since profitable his fourth and presumably last title, James has seen his Lakers miss the playoffs as soon as, get bounced within the first spherical twice, and make one fluky run to the convention finals. He has missed 90 video games during the last 4 seasons and the Lakers have lacked the supporting forged to bolster him.
The Warriors aged as a workforce, with the core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Inexperienced reaching their mid-30s collectively. It felt that approach on the time, and it is apparent now – beating the Celtics in ’22 represented their final stand.
So how concerning the Bucks and Nuggets? Here is the place issues get attention-grabbing.
The Nuggets had a simple postseason path two years in the past, beating three play-in groups and the overrated Suns. That is a cautionary story, I suppose, contemplating the starless path the Celtics stampeded to the Finals.
However the Nuggets additionally misplaced their key glue man in Bruce Brown, who’s a poor man’s Jrue Vacation or Derrick White. Brown does all of the little issues so the celebs do not should, and Denver missed his versatility final season. The Celtics, against this, have not misplaced anybody.
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Watch the Nuggets play final yr, and so they clearly depended an excessive amount of on the famous person duo of Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray. These two wanted to be nice each evening, and it wore them down. Denver went 44-15 with Murray within the lineup and 12-10 with out him.
The Celtics, against this, are a lot deeper, which is why they may go 21-4 with out Kristaps Porzingis, 7-1 with out Jayson Tatum, and so forth… They’ll, and steadily have, gained with out each of their superstars dominating. Final yr’s Denver workforce is cooked in that state of affairs, as a result of Aaron Gordon is a rim-runner/rubbish man (whom I would absorb a second, by the way in which), and Kentavius Caldwell-Pope would not scare anybody.
Then there are the Bucks. They’ve at all times lived on the sting, as a result of they’re constructed round a flawed famous person. Giannis Antetokounmpo cannot shoot free throws or 3s, and within the playoffs, the Celtics have persistently confirmed that Milwaukee can’t win by runaway prepare alone.
Additionally, 2021 was Khris Middleton’s final wholesome postseason, and the Bucks have not been capable of replicate the dimension he provides to their offense, which is not simply 3s, however that silky clean mid-range sport. Maybe most egregiously, they changed Jrue Vacation with Damian Lillard, an all-time basic swap of underrated winner with overrated loser, which sounds harsh, besides Lillard’s playoff resume speaks for itself. It was a desperation transfer designed to maintain Giannis glad, and it labored, as a result of he signed a three-year extension a few weeks later.
The Celtics have zero contract drama (for this yr anyway) as a result of they super-maxed their two stars and surrounded them with the right complementary items.
So to recap, the Celtics aren’t a one-off just like the Raptors, outdated just like the Lakers and Warriors, a two-man workforce just like the Nuggets, or making desperation strikes just like the Bucks.
It would not assure they will go back-to-back, nevertheless it offers them a greater shot than their current predecessors.
