There was plenty of talk about the Celtics’ path to Banner 18 being too easy due to the injuries their opponents faced throughout the playoff run.
But Jalen Brunson didn’t see it as a cakewalk.
“I think Boston is going to be remembered by non-basketball people, like non-players, about this run, like, ‘Oh, they didn’t play so and so because they were hurt,’” the New York Knicks guard recently said on the “Roommates Show” podcast. “But I think the people in the basketball world understand that, no, they walked through every challenge they had to do, and things fell in their favor. It’s as simple as that.”
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The Celtics amassed a 16-3 record en route to their Game 5 NBA Finals win over the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden. Luka Doncic wasn’t at full health, was heavily wrapped up prior to games and received pain-killing injections.
The Miami Heat, Boston’s first round opponent, were without Jimmy Butler before running into a Cleveland Cavaliers team that was without Donovan Mitchell. Tyrese Haliburton also missed time when the Celtics faced the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
But the Celtics weren’t 100% healthy, either. Kristaps Porzingis suffered a calf injury in the first round that left him sidelined until the Finals. He then suffered a rare leg injury — one that required offseason surgery that will have him miss the start of the 2024-25 season — that kept him out of Games 3 and 4 before he returned to Game 5.
Regardless of what people think about Boston’s path, the team found a way to take advantage of the path in front of them.
Teams in the Eastern Conference have been busy this offseason with bolstering their rosters. The Celtics, meanwhile, will run it back with much of the same roster from the 2023-24 championship season.
