Before the new year arrived, when the Boston Celtics were playing below the .500 mark and resembling a title pretender, there were doubts about whether young playmakers Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could thrive together, and whether longtime league assistant Ime Udoka was the right fit as head coach. But all doubts have been squashed in 2022 -- the team is now four wins away from capturing a championship, after all.
Behind a combined 50 points from Tatum and Brown, the Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals on Sunday at FTX Arena, outlasting the Miami Heat, 100-96, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Tatum, who wore a purple-and-gold wristband in honor of the late Kobe Bryant, received the inaugural series MVP award. And according to ESPN, Udoka became the first rookie head coach to win multiple Game 7's. It was also Boston's first Game 7 road win since 1974.
"The key to defending the Warriors, above all else, is not having weak links on the floor... Celtics don't really have a weak link on defense," CBS Sports writer Sam Quinn told the Reiter Than You show on Monday. "And I think the formula for Boston is, keep up the off-ball switching. And over time, they've had a lot of success against Golden State because Marcus Smart has always defended Stephen Curry very well. But, defending Stephen Curry is a team effort...
"So, if they're going to win, it's going to be based off their historic defense... My main prediction is this series is going to go seven -- I haven't settled on a winner yet. I guess I'd lean very slightly toward the Warriors, because they've had all of this time to rest, recover. Boston, since Game 3 of the Bucks series, they've had to play every other day... But, as we talked about with the Celtics' defense, this is a defense that's really constructed to defend Golden State."
Boston, which clinched the East's second seed with a 51-31 record, will visit the Golden State Warriors for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, June 2 (9:00 p.m. ET tipoff). According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, the Celtics currently have an 83-percent chance to win their first title since 2008, and if they do hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy, it'd be their NBA-record 18th in history.
The entire NBA conversation between Quinn and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above (interview begins at 11:00 a.m. mark).
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.