Are The Celtics (Finally) Ready To End This?

Are The Celtics (Finally) Ready To End This?

the Boston Celtics are one of the NBA’s most decorated franchises they’re tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for 17 titles in their entire franchise history yet they have not won an NBA championship since 2008 when Paul Pierce Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett would team up and beat Kobe’s Los Angeles Lakers making it 16 years since the Celtics have won an NBA title the second longest drought in franchise history but what’s different about this drought versus the one that occurred from 1987 to 2008 is that this drought has been full of Eastern Conference Final appearances specifically six appearances to the Eastern Conference Finals in the last eight seasons with five of them including Jason Tatum on their roster and six including Jaylen Brown so let’s take a moment and look back at this streak that these modern-day Celtics finally have a chance to break in this year’s NBA finals this is the modernday curse of the Boston Celtics Boston would draft Jaylen Brown third overall out of the University of California in the 2016 NBA draft and on the back of two-time Allstar Isaiah Thomas they would reach the Eastern Conference Finals losing to LeBron james’ Cleveland Cavaliers in five games but Jaylen did not have much of a role on this team he played Just 12.6 minutes per game scored only five points in the playoffs this was a really good Boston team that had won 48 games the year before and in this season won 53 so it was a unique position to be in for a third overall pick and in that next off season Boston would again have the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft selecting Jason Tatum out of Duke how is it that the Celtics would have the third overall pick in back-to-back drafts even though they were a playoff team you may ask well you can thank the Brooklyn Nets for that one back on July 12th 2013 the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets agreed to a trade that would send Paul Pierce Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry to the Nets and in return Brooklyn would give up Gerald Wallace Chris Humphrey MarShon Brooks Chris Joseph Keith Bogan first round picks in 2014 2016 and 2018 and a swap in 2017 Hayden bird of boston.com has a good article revisiting this trade 10 years later and while it’s easy for us to look back and see how obvious it was that Garnett and Pierce were just too old and it was way too much to give up at the time for such aging Stars the Brooklyn Nets had just been purchased by a Russian billionaire Mel proov in 2010 and he had predicted they would win a championship in 5 years they had just finished fourth in the Eastern Conference that year going 49 and 33 they had a good young core of Darren Williams Joe Johnson Brook Lopez so I guess in their mind they were thinking these three aging veterans could put them over the top in contention for a title but the craziest part about how this trade allegedly went down is best told by Boston Celtics co-owner Wick grck he’s quoted saying I was pretty sure that proov staff told him if we get these two guys we’re going to be the favorites for the championship and so I’m sorry I can’t help but laugh I’ll read this quote and so I thought we ought to just see what else they’d of us because I thought Net’s management didn’t want to tell him that the deal had had fallen through he goes on to say I wanted to push the other side to the max so he had Danny a asking for more than just one first round pick he asked for two the Nets agreed to two and then Danny age went back and asked for three picks they agreed to that as well so they decide to ask for a fourth and the Nets finally said no but grck had the brilliant idea or so he says of doing a swap in 2017 instead which at the time was a lottery ticket for them as the Nets should be good for four or five seasons plus a lot better than a rebuilding Boston Celtics team the deal was accepted on both ends and looking back on it 11 years later here is how everything went down with the picks involved this video is brought to you by odds 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took Kyle kozma with that pick and a 2017 second round draft pick taking Sasha vov the Celtics received Keith Bo marshan Brooks Chris humph Chris Joseph Gerald Wallace a 2014 first round pick where they took James Young a 2016 first round draft pick they took Jaylen Brown a 2017 first round draft pick swap which at this point four years later the Nets had the worst record in the NBA and the Celtics would get the number one overall pick with that swap would trade down and take Jason Tatum and a 2018 first joh draft pick that we will talk about what happened with that later on again as crazy as this deal was at the time it wasn’t considered that crazy even people like Bill Simmons had this to say about it in 2014 the Nets would refuse to resign Paul Pierce would fall to 38 and 44 in 2015 traded Kevin Garnett back to Minnesota and the wheels fell off from there but we could do a whole video on the history of the Brooklyn Nets this video is on the Boston Celtics and their historic streak of Eastern Conference finals so let’s get back to the 2017 playoffs the Celtics would lose in the Eastern Conference Finals to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers refus to resign Isaiah Thomas to a longer term deal instead they would trade their 2018 first round pick alongside Isaiah Thomas in a package for Kyrie Irving and like we said earlier they would trade with Philadelphia letting them take marel folz netting a 2019 first round pick and taking Jason Tatum at number three led by Kyrie Irving second year Jaylen Brown and rookie Jason Tatum the Boston Celtics would win 55 games and again make the Eastern Conference Finals but unfortunately for Boston they would do so in the playoffs without Kyrie Irving who had knee surgery in March and missed the remainder of his season without their star 19-year-old Jason Tatum and 21-year-old Jaylen Brown would Thrive leading the team in points per game at 18.5 and 18 and although they wouldn’t make it to an NBA Finals they fought valiantly versus LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were even up on them 3 to2 after five games and remember they did not have Kyrie Irving this was incredible experience for a rookie Jason Tatum and sophomore Jaylen Brown they’d be back in 2019 they would go 49 and 33 however they would get beaten by the Milwaukee Bucks in five games in the Eastern Conference semis one of the rare Eastern Conference fin misses but it made sense when you look back at it Kyrie Irving shot just 38% from the field in the playoffs and this Celtics team almost had too many pieces that wanted the ball Gordon Hayward was back after injuring his ankle in game one of the Season before there was probably just too many chefs in the kitchen and it was time to shake up this roster that offseason they would trade Terry Rosier for kembell Walker and they would fail to resign Kyrie Irving as well who would team up with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn the Kyrie Irving 2-year Saga was a complete failure for Boston and it’s still leaves a bad taste in Celtics fans mouth today which is an incredible storyline for Kyrie in these finals versus his former team with Kyrie gone and a new season Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown would see another surge in scoring output averaging 23.4 points per game going 48 and 24 during this bubble shorten season and after after a seven game series versus the Toronto Raptors they would find themselves back in the Eastern Conference Finals this time versus the newly formed Jimmy Butler Miami Heat Walker had a fantastic season in his first year with Boston matter of fact he would be an All-Star that year Market smart at just 25 years old would be first team all defense and although Jimmy would beat them in six games this was an incredible learning experience for Boston Tatum and brown were just 21 and 3 respectively they had now been to an Eastern Conference Final as the 1 a and the 1B they would only get better from here the 2021 NBA playoffs was an unfortunate one for this Boston Celtics core and probably the low point during this 8-year stretch they would go just 36 and 36 and match up with the Brooklyn Nets in the first round at this point the Nets had added James Harden to the fold forming one of the most talented big threes that we have ever seen on the offensive end unfortunately for Boston they would get gentleman swept in five games and this was the only playoff series ever that James Harden KD and Kyrie played together as Harden and Kyrie would both only play four games in their next round series versus the bucks but it’s all right because not only did you run into a buzs saww in that Brooklyn Nets team you also did so without Jaylen Brown who tore a ligament in his wrist right before the playoffs this core was building you’re still young you’d be fine that off season they would move away from kembell Walker who shot just 31% from the field during the Net series including 177% from three and after a year and a half Hiatus they would get big old Al Horford back in the fold trading Kemba to the Thunder for Al they would also move Brad Stevens to the front office as Danny a stepped down and hire eeme udoka as their coach at the deadline That season they would acquire Derek white for Romeo Langford Josh Richardson a 2022 first round pick and a 2028 first round pick although this team started off slow they were humming by the time the playoffs came around they would sweep the Brooklyn Nets in the first round beat Milwaukee in seven games and then finally they’d get revenge over the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals winning in seven games making their first NBA Finals during this run Tatum and Brown were phenomenal in that Heat series Tatum would average 25 points 8.3 rebounds 5.6 assists on 46.2% from the field and Jaylen Brown 24 points s rebounds three assists on 48% from the field matching up with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals where they would lose in six games Boston would actually take a 2 to1 lead to start this series but the experience in the finals that Golden State had would prove to be too much Jason Tatum would struggle mightily shooting wise in this series shooting just 36% from the field but at the same time if you’re a Boston fan you tell yourself again Tatum and brown are still really young we finally broke through the Eastern Conference Finals made our first one we didn’t get it we’ll be back that offseason they would acquire Malcolm Brogden from the Indiana Pacers finish second in the Eastern Conference but after the Bucks would get upset by the Jimmy Butler LED Miami Heat in the first round the Celtics had to be licking their chops they would get by the Philadelphia 76ers barely in seven games matching up again for a third time with the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals and before we get into that Eastern Conference Finals during the regular season at this point Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown took another step forward Jason Tatum averaged a career-high 30.1 points per game 8.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists meanwhile Jaylen Brown a career-high 26. six points per game and both of them would play really well in that 76er Series in that Miami series it was a wild one they’d get down 3 to zero and become one of just like 11 teams all time to battle back out of that 3 hole and force a game seven but at that point the Celtics had nothing left they’d scored just 84 points in that game seven lose by 19 and for all the criticism that Jason Tatum got in the 2022 finals this specific Conference Final loss had Jaylen Brown Bearing a majority of the blame he averaged just 19 points per game shot 41.8% from the field just 16% from three and this was massive because Jaylen Brown had the opportunity to sign a super max extension in this off season it was going to be a big decision for Boston I will say Jason Tatum did not shoot it well from three in the series just 23% but he did all of the other things you could ask of him and even with shooting so poorly for three he still shot 46.9% from the field it was this specific off season that everyone started beginning to wonder could Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown as co-stars not just coexist but win a championship together the Celtics brass sure thought so when they signed Jaylen Brown to a super max extension 5 years $34 million the richest contract in NBA history this move was planting their flag in the belief that Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown can win a championship but the Celtics were not done in this off season no they would also add christops porzingis trading Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies in a three- team trade with the Wizards and once the Damien Lillard trade to Milwaukee went public the Celtics swiftly made a move for Drew holiday in Portland solidifying a Supporting Cast around Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown of the utmost Talent level and the rest is history you watch them play this season they won 64 games just one of 26 teams in NBA history to do so they’ve waled their way through the Eastern Conference Finals and route to another finals appearance albeit Jimmy Butler did not play in that Heat series Donovan Mitchell was injured for parts of that Cleveland series and Tyrese halberton for parts of that Indiana series but to me none of that really matters I do think the heat actually have a chance to beat the Celtics in the first round but the other two teams in my opinion did not plus the Celtics have been missing KP since that Heat series as well this Boston Celtics team has been dominant all season long matter of fact they’ve been favored in all but just three games this entire year which is tied for the fewest amount of any team to make the finals in NBA history game one of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics begins next Thursday where Jason t Jaylen Brown and Company have the chance to restore their franchise to its former glory winning its first NBA Championship in 16 Seasons this will be try five of seven for Jason Tatum and try six of eight for Jaylen Brown in their very young careers we’ll see if they can get it done and if they can I believe it’s going to silence the Jason Tatum slander that is permeated throughout NBA Discord for over the past 2 years and that’s not to say he doesn’t deserve some critiques matter of fact he’s still just shooting 29% from three in these playoffs this is a golden opportunity for Jason Tatum to silence everybody matter of fact I’m going to be releasing a video in just a few days titled everything you need to know before the 2024 NBA finals in that video we’ll cover these teams on the court Tendencies everything from stats to play-by-play to their Journeys throughout this postseason so be on the lookout for that video if it’s posted you can click it right here if not YouTube is serving you a video they think you’ll like and in the meantime thank you guys so much for watching this video as always we’ll see you on the hardwood

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Look for “Everything You Need To Know BEFORE The NBA Finals” in the next day or so