Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics are currently two wins away from hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time in 16 years by going up two games to zero in their NBA Finals series vs the Dallas Mavericks. Tatum himself has put up shockingly poor shooting numbers thus far in this series but has found other ways to impact winning, helped by the fact that Celtics general manager Brad Stevens has essentially surrounded him with an All-Star team as his supporting cast.
One person who really wants to see the Celtics break through to championship glory is a man who knows a thing or two about winning at the highest level: legendary point guard Bob Cousy, who, at the age of 95, is hoping that this is the group that breaks through and win a ring.
“I'm 95 f****** years old with one foot in the grave and I can barely move,” said Cousy, per Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe. “I know I'm in overtime. So everything in your life becomes more meaningful. And one of the last things I want to be able to see is for the Celtics to hang up banner number 18.”
Cousy won six NBA championships with the Celtics during the late 1950's and early 1960's, also winning the league MVP award in 1957. Cousy is regarded as one of the game's first truly great point guards and was a staple of one of the league's original dynasties.
Is this the year?
The Celtics are likely never going to get a better chance than the one they have right now to win the NBA Finals. Their road to get here consisted of an eight seed Miami Heat team without their best two playmakers, a fourth seed Cleveland Cavaliers team who saw their best player go down midway through the proceedings, and a sixth seeded Indiana Pacers squad that backdoored their way into that position via injuries and then saw their best player also go down during Game 2.
The Celtics are now faced up against a fifth seeded Mavericks squad who clearly have the best player in the series in Luka Doncic but whose supporting cast, including former Celtics guard Kyrie Irving, have largely been missing in action through the first two games. This offensive ineptitude is at least influenced by the fact that the Celtics have been getting away with guarding both Doncic and Irving one on one as opposed to consistently sending double teams their way, meaning their plan is to not allow any of the Mavericks' role players to get into a rhythm.
That plan has worked to a tee so far, although the Celtics may be playing with fire if they continue to relinquish open jump shots in Dallas, as role players tend to shoot better at home. Another storyline to watch is the health of Kristaps Porzingis, whose status for Game 3 is currently unclear.
In any case, Game 3 is set to get underway at 8:30 PM ET on Wednesday from Dallas and will be carried by ABC.
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