It may go down as the greatest trade in NBA history. When the Celtics dealt aging Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets in June 2013, they received three first-round picks and a pick swap. As we know, two of those selections became Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
That's when the work to build this championship team really started.
One of the most impressive takeaways from the Celtics' rebuild last decade is that they were only bad for one season. While they finished 25-57 during the 2013-14 campaign, they rebounded with a playoff berth the following year.
Brad Stevens, whom the Celtics also hired in June 2013, deserves a lot of credit for that. For years, he milked the most out of a team that was led by Isaiah Thomas and played guys like Jonas Jerebko and Evan Turner during crunch time. It didn't take long for that iteration of the Celtics to give the Warriors all they could handle.
Boston's coming-out party happened on Dec. 11, 2015. On a blustery Friday night, the Celtics took the 23-0 Warriors to double overtime at TD Garden, with a starting lineup that featured Jared Sullinger and Amir Johnson. Four months later, they beat the Warriors in San Francisco, denying them the first perfect home record in NBA history.
Though Brown wouldn't arrive in Boston until the following spring — and Tatum the year after that — the narrative was set: the Celtics weren't pushovers.
No team knows that better than Golden State. As NBC Sports Boston's John Tomase points out, the Warriors are 7-9 against the Celtics since 2015, good for a .438 winning percentage. Meanwhile, they're 499-219 (.807) against everybody else.
The Celtics only played the Warriors tougher when Brown and Tatum were added to the mix. Memorably, they trailed the Warriors by 17 points in the Garden in 2017 before rallying back with 19 straight points in an incredible comeback victory. That team reached the Eastern Conference Finals without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, and took LeBron James' Cavaliers to seven games. Marcus Smart told J.J. Redick on his podcast this winter he thinks the Celtics would've beaten Golden State in the 2018 NBA Finals.
They certainly would've given them a better series than the undermanned Cavs, who were swept.
Tatum has faced the Warriors 10 times, averaging 22.2 points per game in those contests. Brown is nearly just as good: he's averaged 17.1 points per game against the Warriors in seven career contests.
As we know, Tatum and Brown developed into full-fledged stars this season. Tatum averaged 26.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 4.4 assists -- all career-highs. The three-time All-Star was named to his first All-NBA First Team.
Brown contributed with 23.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
It all goes back to that Nets trade. Danny Ainge's coup sent the message that Boston wouldn't be bottom dwellers for long. Tatum and Brown's brilliance ensured that became the reality.
The Warriors have observed the transformation first-hand.
