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Most years, there are reasonable arguments to be made for the championship-winning team’s best player to be considered the best player in the world. Or, at the very least, a top three-to-five player.
Just think about the last several Finals MVP winners: Nikola Jokić, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant.
If the Celtics pull this off, there really isn’t a “best in the world” candidate to add to that list. Tatum is great. He’s a top five-10 player, but in a vacuum, he’s not a better individual player than Jokić, Luka Dončić, Giannis or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
But that’s not a knock on Tatum or Boston. On the contrary, this playoff run should be a celebration of team basketball, well-built rosters and continuity.
Despite years of outside forces (mostly media) clamoring for a Tatum-Jaylen Brown breakup, the Celtics kept them together. They built around them with selfless, versatile role players (or, more accurately, fringe stars).
The pieces of this puzzle fit brilliantly. Everyone in the eight-man rotation can shoot. Most of them can create. All of them (with the exception of Payton Pritchard) can defend more than one position. Everyone plays a pretty selfless brand of basketball, too. They have to.
According to various catch-all metrics from around the internet, Boston had five of the top 70 and nine of the top 125 players in the league this season. With some personalities, that might lead to jealousy. Players like Jrue Holiday and Derrick White could probably be doing more elsewhere.
But everyone falling into line is part of why the Celtics were so dominant throughout the regular season. And it’s why they’re up 2-0, in spite of Tatum having two horrible shooting nights.