Talent has no bearing on how bad the Celtics are for the Cavs in the playoffs. Watkins, Jimmy
Ohio’s Cleveland On the bench, Jayson Tatum ought to be applying cold packs and coloring his gray hair. Next month, the forward for the Celtics turns 26. However, in the off-season, he is becoming older and wiser more quickly than dogs.
Tatum, along with Cavs center Tristan Thompson, is tied for the 26th-most active player record with 94 playoff games played in seven seasons. LeBron James, who holds the record for the most postseason games played (282) in history, set a seven-year pace that he is currently 23 games ahead of. Furthermore, he only has three postseason appearances on his own team, which may be the most frightening or remarkable statistic pertaining to the top team in the Eastern Conference.
Forget that, along with Paul George of the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard, Tatum and Jaylen Brown (105 career postseason games) are one of the two NBA wing tandems averaging 22 points and five rebounds this season. Don’t forget that each starting player for the Celtics has been recognized as an All-Star, an All-NBA player, and/or an All-Defensive player. And forget about Boston leading the league by four games over Minnesota with a 43-12 record at the All-Star break.
More than any of the aforementioned advantages, Boston’s seasoning will be an advantage if the Cavs play the Celtics in the semifinals.
Boston’s core (top six minute-earners) is superior to that of any other Eastern Conference competitor. Additionally, no Eastern Conference team—excluding Thompson—has less than the Cavaliers. Boston’s experience makes them a team to avoid in spring, according to Cleveland.com, which is continuing to rank the Cavs’ Eastern Conference playoff threats this week.
Recall last spring’s statement made by center Jarrett Allen that “lights were brighter than expected”? Maybe the Cavaliers should go buy some sunglasses. Because its spotlight will only get stronger if the season plays out as expected. The Cavs were only exposed to postseason pressure after their first-round loss to the Knicks in the previous season. And Boston is the squad that best explains the next phase.
The Celtics have advanced to the NBA Finals once and have been in five of the previous seven Eastern Conference Finals. Brown had all five runs, and Tatum and Al Horford (who had played in 167 postseason games between them) had four.
Derrick White (53 playoff games in his career) joined the team during the 2021–22 campaign, which ended with Boston losing in the Finals. Even though Jrue Holiday (70 lifetime postseason games) has only appeared in 50 games for the Celtics, he has participated in 40 playoff games during his three seasons in Milwaukee, including a seven-game loss to the Celtics in 2022 and a championship run in 2021.
Stated differently:
Boston’s past experiences instill the self-assurance needed to thrive in the face of postseason scrutiny. Additionally, the consistency of the Celtics, or Holiday’s familiarity with the team, fosters the resiliency needed to succeed when things don’t go right. Because Brown, Tatum, and Horford have experienced so much together previously, you won’t see them taken off guard during a playoff series.
THREAT CON TRACKER: Which opponent ought to frighten Cleveland?
There have been 89 games played together (including playoffs) between Darius Garland (five lifetime playoff games) and Donovan Mitchell (44 career playoff games), which is seven more than Tatum and Brown (82) have combined for in the postseason.
Combined, Garland and Evan Mobley (five career postseason games) have played fewer minutes in the postseason (377) than Celtics reserve Payton Pritchard (433).
Even Thompson, who was signed by Boston because of his stellar career, would rank fifth on the team in postseason minutes played; who knows how much run he’ll get back after serving a 25-game ban for performance-enhancing drugs?
Reminder: We haven’t yet gone into great detail on Boston’s outstanding wing combo, its strong starting lineup, or its league-best record. Notably, despite the current small-ball revolution, the Cavs are still ranked 18th in 3-point shooting, while Boston is sixth. Furthermore, we haven’t examined Boston’s defense, which gained Marcus Smart and added Holiday to an already strong squad that finished third in the playoff defensive rating last spring (first among series-winning teams).
The Celtics’ experience is already a huge benefit, so we don’t need to. No matter how many lessons they take away from the Knicks’ defeat the previous season or from players like Thompson and Max Strus (43 career playoff games), the Cavaliers still don’t know what they don’t know. Furthermore, the Cavaliers’ opponents in the postseason are not as knowledgeable as the Celtics.
Tatum may appear youthful, but he is developing rapidly. In comparison to Boston, the Cavs may have grown this season, but they are still young.
Although skill may win over 82 games, wisdom can win over 16, and the Celtics possess more of both than any other team.
