Paul Pierce sneaked in a doozy of a take during Monday’s episode of “First Take” on ESPN.
After Stephen A. Smith spent a few minutes praising Jayson Tatum for his great performance against the Lakers on Sunday, Pierce chimed in and confidently claimed the Celtics would be favored over Los Angeles in the NBA Finals. According to the Celtics legend, Boston’s depth at the wing position would tip the scales in a potential matchup between the archrivals.
“If these two meet in the Finals, full-strength, the Celtics have the advantage psychologically,” Pierce said. ” … Period. I think Celtics have the best starting five in the NBA. They have the best collection of scoring forwards, and that’s what you need to win in the game today. If you look at all the top champions over the last 20 years, and you say, ‘Who’s been the Finals MVP?’ It’s going to be that swing guy who can get his own shot … The Paul Pierce-type, the Kobe Bryant-type.”
Pierce obviously comes at this topic with a ton of bias, but he nonetheless makes some good points.
Still, assuming the Lakers would have home-court advantage, it would be difficult to choose the Celtics over a team led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
