Smart is the most important player in the finals.

[liam]

Smart goes from being great to being dumb so quick you sometimes get whiplash. If Smart plays in control and plays smart then this team is very hard to beat. We need Smart to be his best in this series.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I think that's fair. He does have the tendency to stand out for good and bad. I wish we all could remember the good.

Steph is their best player, and Smart is our best defender. It makes sense that this would be the biggest matchup. There's also some history here. We've played GS very competitively since their first championship, and Marcus dove on the ground that led to Curry's latest ankle injury.

I also think DWhite and Jaylen can potentially cover Steph, but Marcus is our first line of defense.

[Roy H.]

I'm going to assume that Marcus is going to play "in control", like he has the majority of the season.  A few times in the Miami series he may have taken on too big of a shooting role, but overall he's been the best version of Marcus that we can hope for.

To me, the most important player is Timelord.  I think that our team is close to unbeatable when we have our starting five fully healthy.  He gives us a big interior presence and a rebounding advantage.  When he's out, it just changes the entire dynamic of our defense.  Neither Grant nor Theis can do what Rob does.

[0003323344]

Smart took the last 5 shots for the Celtics in game 7 not counting the offensive foul on the shot attempt by Jaylen. That should never happen. Smart should not be taking the last 5 shots in any playoff game unless they are layups. It's not like he had the hot hand or anything.

[LilRip]

The “good” version of Smart practically plays like an all star. Deflections, smart shots, timely passes, strong rebounds… we’d be lucky (and unbeatable) if Smart plays like that for a whole game. I thought there were stretches in the Heat series that Smart wanted to create and do too much rather than trust the pass and move the ball (ala Derrick White).

I really hope we get the best version of Smart for 4 games this series.

[Csfan1984]

The best of Smart is what can push this team to win a chip. But I feel the bigger the moment the more he regresses back to the “one for" chucker and flopper.

This team needs 7 of it's top 9 to play elite basketball. The best of their collective lives.

[Moranis]

Tatum and Curry are clearly the 2 most important players.  Their teams cannot win the title without them (frankly I don't even think they'd win a game unless they both missed the same game). 

[nyceltsfan]

I'm going to assume that Marcus is going to play "in control", like he has the majority of the season.  A few times in the Miami series he may have taken on too big of a shooting role, but overall he's been the best version of Marcus that we can hope for.

To me, the most important player is Timelord.  I think that our team is close to unbeatable when we have our starting five fully healthy.  He gives us a big interior presence and a rebounding advantage.  When he's out, it just changes the entire dynamic of our defense.  Neither Grant nor Theis can do what Rob does.

I think Timelord is extremely important to their success this round.  The Celtics are going to be scrambling and switching on the perimeter and they will need to run the shooters off the 3 point line, which means quick close outs and the primary defender likely being off balance.  In order to achieve this, a strong secondary defender needs to be waiting in the paint to protect the rim, ala Robert Williams.  I also think Al Horford can play this role to some extent, but having both at the top of their games would make the game come much easier.

As an aside, I have a suspicion that if (and only if) the Celtics somehow win the whole thing, Horford may be the MVP this series because he has the best opportunity to use his size for mismatches, particularly if Timelord plays as well.

[Vermont Green]

In the playoffs, where at times he has played through injury, he has put up 15.5 pts, 3.6 rebs, 6.2 assts, 2.2 TO on 33% shooting from 3.  I'll take that.  If we continue to get that from him, along with the expected defense and other intangibles, that is enough.  Smart doesn't need to try to do more.

Of course, game to game, his box score is going to vary as a couple of shots go down or don't go down but because his overall contribution is impacted by defense and other aspects, it has stayed pretty steady through the playoffs, and all season really.

I don't know how to define most important but it doesn't seem like it applies to Smart.  Smart is going to have good games and bad games along the way but I am not sure he is going to be the deciding factor overall.

[liam]

High Assist/low turnover Smart with less than 10 shots a game is the one I want.

[wiley]

I'm going to assume that Marcus is going to play "in control", like he has the majority of the season.  A few times in the Miami series he may have taken on too big of a shooting role, but overall he's been the best version of Marcus that we can hope for.

To me, the most important player is Timelord.  I think that our team is close to unbeatable when we have our starting five fully healthy.  He gives us a big interior presence and a rebounding advantage.  When he's out, it just changes the entire dynamic of our defense.  Neither Grant nor Theis can do what Rob does.

Agree completely.  With full health and high minutes for Rob, the Celtics are unbeatable (the healthy team that went on the second half historically high rated run).  Without him...could still struggle our way to 6 or 7 games with probable finals loss..   I think with him at full health the series is over in 5 or 6 in our favor.

[liam]

Just to clarify I'm not saying that Smart is our best player. I'm saying that Smart plays a steady game we are a much better team. That pass to Tatum at the end of game one against the Nets comes to mind.

[wiley]

Just to clarify I'm not saying that Smart is our best player. I'm saying that Smart plays a steady game we are a much better team. That pass to Tatum at the end of game one against the Nets comes to mind.

You're right!  His performance can catapult the C's in this series as far as two way play..especially the D the Curry as you say.

[Moranis]

Just to clarify I'm not saying that Smart is our best player. I'm saying that Smart plays a steady game we are a much better team. That pass to Tatum at the end of game one against the Nets comes to mind.

I don't think anyone thought anything other than that, and I don't disagree with anything you say here, but I absolutely disagree that Smart is a more important player than Tatum.  Boston cannot win this series without Tatum, probably gets swept.  While Boston would struggle to win the series without Smart, they absolutely could win a couple of games without him.  Smart might very well be the 2nd more important Celtic though as he will likely be the primary defender of Curry and slowing Curry down will help Boston win the series.

[Who]

I also think DWhite and Jaylen can potentially cover Steph, but Marcus is our first line of defense.

I don't think Jaylen is a good matchup for Steph. Jaylen is too big and slow navigating all the screens and off-ball movement of Curry.

I'm not sure how much better Pritchard would do. Big test for him in this series.