Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. It was close, in fact it couldn’t really be much closer than it was, but the Boston Celtics have won the Eastern Conference. It took a Jimmy Butler three to decide the matchup between the Celtics and Miami, a shot that Butler missed and copped a lot of flak for. But to me, that was the right shot to make. He was open, he stepped nicely into the shot and he was in rhythm. Yes, Butler is not a great 3-point shooter but at that moment, that doesn’t matter. If he goes to the ring, a lot of things can go wrong. He can get blocked by Horford, he can miss the shot, he can make the shot but not get a free throw, the game goes to overtime and a tired Miami gets run over anyway. So many variables. I think Jimmy did the right thing, because if he made that shot, nobody would have had any doubt that it was the right shot. Too bad for Butler and Miami, but the Celtics have made it to the NBA Finals. As promised, this week’s episode we go over 5 key players on the Celtics. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Jayson Tatum. In his young, 5 year career, the 24-year old has never missed the Playoffs. In fact, this is the third time in those 5 years that Boston made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. In 2018, LeBron and the Cavaliers needed 7 games to get through the Celtics. That was the first Kyrie year in Boston, where he injured himself towards the end of the regular season and missed this almost historic Playoff run. Fun fact, the 4 main players for Boston in that series were Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and rookie Jayson Tatum. Not much has changed in five years, right?
The second time Tatum and Boston made it to the Eastern Conference Finals was during the bubble season when they lost against Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. That Miami team was never going to lose, and I still don’t understand how they lost against the Lakers in the Finals. And this current run is the third time they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Even though he is still young, it feels like this was the do or die moment for Jayson Tatum. It was time that he broke through that ceiling and claimed his place among the NBA greats. And the Celtics dominated most of the series against the Heat, but multiple in-game collapses made the series closer than necessary, especially in game 7 when Boston was up by 17 points and still had to cross their fingers when Butler took that last shot.
But the Celtics made it and are in the NBA Finals. Jayson Tatum against Steph Curry, the future of the league against the current dynasty. Will this be the change of the guard? Hard to say, but if Tatum looks after himself physically, just like LeBron did, he can end up with a similar run of 8 NBA Finals appearances in a row. And who knows, maybe he can even break that streak, he’s young enough. The current record is held by, you guessed it, the Boston Celtics, with 10 NBA Finals appearances in a row back in the sixties. And they won 8 in a row during that stretch. Can Tatum break this franchise and NBA record? He has taken the first step, and if they can win these NBA Finals, it will be anyone’s guess where they’ll end up 10 years from now.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Jaylen Brown. Brown’s Playoff streak would have been more impressive than Tatum’s, if he hadn’t been injured during last season’s Playoff run. It would have meant 6 Postseasons in a row, although Brown wasn’t as important during his rookie year as Tatum was. Because Brown had a quote unquote “normal rookie season”, his second year in the league was the first time he showed people around him that he was truly a quality player. It was clear from the start that these 2 players were destined to achieve greatness together but they’ve had a bumpy ride to get where they are now.
Especially if we take a closer look at the start of this season. Both Tatum and Brown came off an All-Star season but lost against Brooklyn in the first round of the Playoffs. The loss meant a lot of reshuffling in the front office and, after 18 years, Danny Ainge decided to move on from his position as GM, and then head coach Brad Stevens was promoted into the role. Ime Udoka was hired as the new head coach. Udoka had been an assistant coach for nearly 10 years in the league but never coached his own team. It was hard to say what the Boston Celtics were going to be able to achieve, and the start of the season wasn’t promising. They lost 6 out of their first 10 games and rumours started circling.
And most of those rumours included Jaylen Brown. Obviously Tatum was the guy the Celtics were going to keep and if both stars were not able to play together, it was going to be Brown that had to leave. It didn’t help that Udoka publicly called out his players when they were not playing well. Brown said none of it bothered him, but it was hard to believe it. And then it changed, out of the blue. Since January 1st, the Celtics were 33 and 12 in the regular season and climbed to the second spot in the Eastern Conference. They killed Brooklyn, tired out Giannis, and manhandled Butler. Brown and Tatum are inseparable now, and these guys are the future of this Boston franchise. Only, the future for them is now.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is Marcus Smart. Smart was described as an unselfish player with great court vision and an exceptional perimeter defender before the 2014 draft. He was picked as number 6 by the Celtics and managed to play himself into the rotation in his rookie year after Rajon Rondo was traded away to Dallas. Since then Smart has had a love-hate relationship with the Boston Celtics fans. They love him because of his attitude on the court. He is relentless and keeps playing til the very last second of every game. But he gets over-excited on the offensive end and forgets that he is not the number 1 option on the team sometimes. It would frustrate fans, coaches and teammates. But this year, under Udoka, Smart seems to have figured it out.
Where he was too selfish to be a true point guard in previous seasons, he has embraced the role this year. Obviously, Dennis Schroder was not the guy Boston needed and Smart was happy to step into the role. He averaged a career-high 5.9 assists per game and he was elected as Defensive Player of the Year. Smart had been on the trade block pretty much every season, but the Celtics never pulled the trigger. A great move, looking at it now, because Smart was the missing playmaking piece this Boston team needed at the end of last season.
There is one moment in these Playoffs that proves the change Smart has made to lift this team. In Game 1 against the Nets, Smart gets the ball with only a handful of seconds left in the game. He can take the 3 but has 2 Nets players storming at him to block his shot. He fakes the shot, drives past them and finds Tatum who finishes the game with a mind-boggling spin move buzzerbeater. The old Smart would have attempted the shot, but the new Smart is an unselfish player with excellent court vision. He has always been an excellent perimeter defender.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Al Horford. I saw a meme this week floating around on the socials about Horford that described his influence on this team like no other. The picture shows a young Splinter and the baby Ninja Turtles, referring to Horford as Splinter and Tatum, Brown and Smart as the little turtles. The second picture shows an older Splinter and the fully grown Ninja Turtles. That is exactly the role Al Horford has played for these guys, there is no other way of putting it into words. He has taken these guys under his wings, shown them the ropes and now they’re ready to take over.
This week, Al Horford turns 36 years old and he’s playing his 15th season in the NBA. He was part of the Atlanta team that surprised the whole league in 2015, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they were swepped by LeBron and his Cavaliers. He played 9 seasons for the Hawks, and then moved to Boston the first time. He helped the youngsters as much as he could but they never made it past the Eastern Conference Finals again. Then Horford moved to Philly, to be Embiid’s backup and maybe get to glory that way but, as we all know, that was an unmitigated disaster. He was traded away from Philly to OKC, where he didn’t play for two thirds of the season and Brad Stevens brought him back to Boston at the start of this season.
At the time, it seemed like Al Horford would take on a Udonis Haslem role within the team. Support the guys from the bench and be the veteran leadership they need. But Horford knows better than anyone that vets lead from the court, and he made sure he was able to play for the majority of the season. He helped Boston turn things around in the second half of the season and led them through the Playoffs so far with some exceptional 3 point shooting and rebounding. This is the first time in his career he made it to the NBA Finals, and he wants to win it all, he deserves it after the career he’s had.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Derrick White. White was never meant to be a basketball star. He was barely 6 foot coming out of high school and didn’t play for any of the division 1 college teams. But White has an excellent work ethic, got invited to the Draft Combine in 2017 and convinced the San Antonio Spurs he was worth drafting. He was the 29th pick of the 2017 draft and played 4 and a half years in San Antonio under Pop. He wasn’t exceptional but he was part of the core group the Spurs were looking at to build around. But then, the Celtics came knocking halfway through this season and the Spurs were considering taking the rest of the season. They couldn’t say no to a first round pick and a first round pick swap. Oh yeah, they also got Langford and the expiring Richardson in the deal.
Derrick White ended up in Boston, alongside Tatum, Brown, Smart, Horford and Williams as extra help on the guard positions. Coming off the bench, White has been very important for the Celtics, adding a bit of depth to their roster. He averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in about 27 minutes per game. His presence on the court allows Smart, Brown and Tatum to take a break once and a while, something they weren’t able to do before he got in. He’s been playing really well in these Playoffs but took it up a notch when he became a father for the first time.
He missed Game 2 against Miami when his baby boy was born and he returned to the team, we saw a different White on the court. Excluding Game 3 against Miami, where the whole Boston team went missing, he averaged 14 points per game in the last 4 games of the series and 4 assists per game. His 3 point shooting in Game 6 and 7 has been off the charts, shooting 6 of 10 over both games. He played a big part in the Celtics beating Miami and it will be interesting to see how he can contribute to the Celtics taking on the Warriors. Derrick White was not supposed to be a basketball star, and yet today, he is one of the most important Sixth Men on a Championship contender.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!