After a miraculous, Cinderella run to the NBA Finals, Marcus Smart and the Boston Celtics are completely focused on bringing home the ultimate prize.
Still, they can’t help but think about the missed opportunity they let go back in 2018. That season, the Celtics went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing in 7 games to the LeBron-led Cleveland Cavaliers.
Looking back, Smart says he and his squad could have won the whole thing had they managed to beat the Cavs in Game 7:
“We definitely thought we had a great chance,” Smart said. “To this day, we still thought if we went to the championship instead of LeBron and those guys, we definitely would have beat Golden State that year.”
“If we went to the championship instead of LeBron and those guys, we definitely would have beat Golden State that year.” —Marcus Smart
Full clip: https://t.co/IkE3tB8RKB pic.twitter.com/LvJvxJ3QqK
— TheYoungManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) May 31, 2022
The Celtics and LeBron aren’t necessarily rivals, but there isn’t too much love between them these days. Years ago, he revealed just how deep his hatred for the Celtics goes:
When LeBron James joined the Lakers, he came with a pre-existing rivalry with the Celtics as well. The Big 3 had beaten his Cleveland Cavaliers teams before he went on to join the Miami Heat and effectively ended their title hopes for the foreseeable future. This was clearly something that gave Bron pleasure, too. He spoke about his hatred of the Green Machine in an interview in 2012:
“You put my mother on the floor, and if she were in a Boston Celtics uniform, I’d break her face.”
"You put my mother on the floor, and if she were in a Boston Celtics uniform, I'd break her face." — LeBron James, in an interview with me six years ago.
— Lee Jenkins (@ByLeeJenkins) May 28, 2018
Of course, James always beat the Celtics during his run in the East. Back then, he dominated the entire conference in a truly unprecedented reign.
Now that James is older and out of the East, the young Celtics have taken their place at the top of the standings. And while there’s no way to know how they would have fared against the 2018 Warriors, they have the chance to beat the 2022 Warriors in their quest for a title.
We will see soon enough how it all ends.
