Can the Boston Celtics, as currently constituted, compete with the Golden State Warriors?
By Jason Timpf
The case for a Boston Celtics defeat
Generally speaking, the basketball team that employs the best player has the best chance to win the game. Yes, there are examples where this isn’t the case, but it is true for the most part, especially when the supporting casts are relatively equal.
The Boston Celtics — should they stay healthy — would be the best collection of talent we’ve seen face off with this iteration of the Golden State Warriors.
The games will be close. The palms will be sweaty. And the guy the Celtics will have guarding Kevin Durant will be 22-year-old Jaylen Brown. Brown is a terrific young prospect and has proven he can play in the postseason, but he can’t go toe-to-toe with Kevin Durant.
This is the problem with Danny Ainge being content to stock up on mid-level stars and young prospects. Every last one of them has star potential. Every last one of them can compete on this stage. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty of these games in the NBA Finals it becomes a game of “Who’s your best guy? Is he better than our best guy?”
Nobody on the Celtics can reach that level. Maybe Kyrie for brief stretches offensively, but not to the extent that Kevin Durant can reach it.
This is why it doesn’t make sense to me that Ainge didn’t go after Kawhi Leonard. If you want to win an NBA championship, you have to go through Kevin Durant. Heck, maybe LeBron gets help and now you have to go through LeBron.
Kawhi Leonard was the trump card to that conundrum. He was the guy who could give the Celtics a star that could go toe-to-toe with the elites in the Finals. Instead, the Celtics will go into the NBA Finals without the two best players on the floor, and that could spell their doom.
Just ask the Warriors themselves, who went into the 2015 and 2016 Finals with the far superior roster. They nearly went 0-2 because they couldn’t handle LeBron James.
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So, to answer the question: Can the Celtics, as currently constituted, compete with the Dubs? The answer is no. They can’t. Not unless Ainge pushes more of his chips into the middle of the table. Otherwise, the Celtics will just be the next team to almost beat the Golden State Warriors.