The Boston Celtics were as close as could be to breaking up a four-peat of the NBA Finals.
The Celtics took the Cleveland Cavaliers all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, but Boston’s terrible shooting performance in the series finale, coupled with LeBron James’ heroics, set up a Cavaliers-Golden State Warriors Finals matchup for the fourth consecutive season.
While Cleveland has the best player in the world on its roster, one Celtics player believes the C’s would have been a better matchup for the Warriors in the Finals. Although bias certainly is a factor in this opinion, Terry Rozier explained his reasoning during Tuesday’s edition of “First Take” on ESPN.
“I’m not taking nothing away from the Cavs, but we got a lot of guys that can switch off the ball and stuff like that,” Rozier said. “Our communication is key for us and that’s something we valued all year. I feel like we’d be a better matchup for them.”
There’s no denying James is the best player in the NBA, but the case could be made that Boston was the best team in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland’s role players have provided next to nothing throughout the team’s playoff run, while the Celtics embodied a collective team effort throughout their postseason stretch with a group of versatile players.
In all likelihood, Golden State probably was going to make quick work out of whichever team came out of the East. But it sure would have been interesting to see how the young Celtics fared against the defending champions.
