The 21-22 Celtics vs Finals History

[Ed Monix]

According to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, the Celtics are only the 4th team of the last 40 years to make the Finals, with their top two scorers being 25 and under (Tatum & Brown).

* 1986 Finals - Hakeem Olajuwon & Ralph Sampson

* 1995 Finals - Shaquille O’Neal & Penny Hardaway

* 2012 Finals - Kevin Durant & Russell Westbrook

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What is the common theme with those teams? They all lost.

In saying all that, this Celtics team has the distinction of being young yet battle tested, going deep in the playoffs since 2018.

[Phantom255x]

Time to make history! 

[Moranis]

Those 3 teams the lead dog eventually won a title after separating from the 2nd fiddle. 

[slamtheking]

Those 3 teams the lead dog eventually won a title after separating from the 2nd fiddle.

it was also the only time those 2-man combinations made the finals.

the separating from the second banana is circumstantial.  if Sampson and Penny didn't have their careers curtailed by injuries, there's a pretty fair chance those teams get back to the finals for another shot at a title.  In Durant's case, he had to run to the top team in the league to get a title rather than carry a team as the clear top dog like Hakeen and Shaq did.

[CelticsWhat35]

Steph, Klay and Draymond were 26, 24 and 24 when they won their first title, so not far off.  Also, the Jays are probably more battle-tested than they were at the time

[kraidstar]

It's impressive for the C's. Part of why i have pleaded with people to be patient with them. It takes time to contend.

Which suggests they haven't even hit their ceiling yet.

Not too worried that the other teams lost. Sampson was not a true scorer imo. More of an opportunist. That team lacked perimeter scorers and ran into the 86 Celtics, one of the best teams in history.

That Magic team was good but IMO not deep enough.

The Thunder were loaded with talent. Their opponent,  the Heat was a legit great team. But the Thunder never moved the ball well during the KD/Westbrook era. Their assist rate was near the bottom of the league every year.

The Celtics looked to be following in those footsteps but turned it around. Now we just need to cut back on the turnovers lol.

But yeah, the Warriors are good but they are not the 86 C's or the LeBron Heat. They are closer to the Hakeem Rockets than anything. Definitely beatable.

[bdm860]

Lakers had Magic Johnson (25) and James Worthy (23) lead the team in mpg for the '85 run, but they only finished 2-3 in scoring thanks to a relatively unknown player named Kareem.  Plus they had Byron Scott (23) as their 4th best player.