I think the point is that they were so far ahead of everyone else that it doesn't really matter who they played. Could there have been tougher matchups? Sure. Were they ever (or would they ever be) in real danger of losing a series? Not really.
Does the '22 team do just as well? I'm not so sure I agree.
You don?t think the ?22 team could beat 3 average teams without their best player and that mavs team? Interesting
I think the '22 team would have some serious struggles against both Indiana (who were much better then the 4-0 sweep suggests) and Dallas. And I seriously doubt they would have dispatched either Cleveland or Miami in 5 games.
Jaylen and Tatum are both much better leaders and team players then they were a couple of years ago, we no longer have Marcus Smart us (and turning us over) to death, White and Pritchard are both much better players today then they were 2 years ago, and Jrue Holiday (who wasn't here in '22) looked like our team MVP for a number of stretches during that playoff and finals run.
We also wouldn't have had the #1 seed and home court advantage through he playoffs with the '22 roster, so that's something to consider too - we were REALLY inconsistent that year and had a tendancy to underestimate (And play down to) our opponents - I wouldn't be shocked if every one of those series went to 6 or 7 games if it was the '22 team playing.
People can say what they want, but this is the NBA. Beating
any NBA team 4 times out of 5 is hard. Going 4-1 or 4-0 against a playoff opponent really, really hard. Going through an entire playoffs with a 16-3 record is unbelievably difficult - it was the 9th best playoff record in NBA history.
And to counter the argument that the Celtics only dominated the playoffs because of 'weak competition', they were just as dominant in the reagular season:
* They had the 5th highest point differential in NBA history (+11.34)
* Their 14 point gap between the Celtics and the #2 seed was the was the largest margin in almost 50 years
* 20-0 season start
* The 37-4 home record was the 3rd best in Celtics franchise history
* Only team in history to win three games by a margin of 50+ points
* Only team in history to win 19 games by a margin of 25+ points
I don't care what people say about the playoff competition, what this team achieved last season should not be taken lightly. They dominated the entire league from the day the season until the final day of the playoffs, and they did it consistently despite having guys out of the rotation all season long.
