Considering his 26-point, 11-rebound effort in the Celtics' 105-98 victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday night, does that now make Jrue Holiday Boston's best player? Or, with Derrick White meeting P.J. Washington at the rim and making a stunning block of a would-be running dunk with 50.5 seconds remaining to keep the Mavericks from closing to within three points, does that transform White into Boston's finest?
His twice-said Saturday comment that Jaylen Brown is the Celtics' best player created quite a stir but also opened up a runway for the recency bias crowd to put it out there that, well, Brown did emerge as MVP of the Eastern Conference finals. And that, went the goofy logic, meant Brown, and not Jayson Tatum, is Boston's best player.
The first question had something to do with Tatum, but Mazzulla instead pivoted to what happened on the last possession of the third quarter when Payton Pritchard, who had just entered the game in place of Holiday, raced up the court and delivered a 34-foot buzzer-beating bank shot to give the Celtics an 83-74 lead. Proclaiming it the play of the game, Mazzulla noted that you see guys around the league pass up on that shot or fake like they want to take it, so that their numbers don't get messed up. He takes pride in taking that, and that's winning basketball.
Collection
[
|
...
]