"We definitely would have beat Golden State that year" - Marcus Smart claims the Celtics would have won the title in 2018 if they had beaten LeBron James and the Cavs
Boston Celtics star smart" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-is-sponsored="false">Marcus Smart liked Boston's chances in 2018 if they could have gotten past LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
On JJ Redick's podcast, "The Old Man & The Three," Smart talked about how he feels his Celtics could have beaten the Golden State Warriors, led by Kevin Durant. Smart said:
"We definitely thought that we had a great chance. 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."
The Celtics entered the 2017-18 season with high expectations as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were added. That deepened a roster already stocked with young talent like Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown. However, their season came to an end against a Cleveland team led by James in the Eastern Conference finals.
Recapping LeBron James' incredible 2018 playoffs run
The 2018 playoffs is widely considered to be the best version of LeBron James the league has ever seen as "King James" was a man on a mission. He almost single-handedly dragged the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
With Kyrie Irving switching teams and going to the Celtics, the likelihood of the Cavs coming out of the East was slim to none as they also had to contend with the Toronto Raptors in the same conference.
Notable stat lines from LeBron James’ 2018 playoff run
51 PTS - 8 REB - 8 AST
46 PTS - 11 REB - 9 AST
46 PTS - 12 REB - 5 AST
45 PTS - 8 REB - 7 AST
44 PTS - 10 REB - 8 AST
44 PTS - 5 REB - 3 AST
43 PTS - 8 REB - 14 AST
42 PTS - 10 REB - 12 AST
38 PTS - 6 REB - 7 AST https://t.co/pbOrqa9tIO
"King James" averaged over 34 points per game in the postseason by playing over 41 minutes per game. He added 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 1.4 steals and 1 block while shooting nearly 54% (over 34% from beyond the arc).The next highest on the roster was Kevin Love with 14.9 ppg.
These are historically incredible numbers from arguably the greatest player of all time. The series against the Boston Celtics was no different as he battled a team full of young legs and confidence for a seven-game victory.
LeBron James has 348 points in 10 games in the 2018 #NBAPlayoffs. The last player with that many points through his first 10 games of one postseason was Michael Jordan in the 1992 playoffs (354 points). @EliasSports https://t.co/pp4PSMxRM1
"King James" and the Cavs came into the series after withstanding a seven-game battle against the Indiana Pacers in the first round and sweeping the Raptors in the semifinals. Both the Celtics and the Cavs held on to win the home games as the series went to Game 7 at Boston.
It was a scrappy, low-scoring affair, and James was a one-man wrecking crew with 35 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists as he played every second of the game. He shot 50%, including over 37% from the perimeter. It was an incredible effort from James as the Cavs pulled away in the final minutes thanks to some unbelievable plays from LeBron.
However, the reward of these incredible performances was a matchup against a four-headed monster in the Golden State Warriors.
The Cavs were subsequently swept by Golden State in the NBA Finals. But even then James had one of the greatest performances of all time in Game 1, dropping 51 points. Unfortunately, that night was known for a late-game blunder by J.R. Smith.