Marcus Smart said Celtics could have beat Warriors in 2018 NBA Finals

Marcus Smart may have inadvertently given the Golden State Warriors some bulletin board footage ahead of their 2022 NBA Finals against his Boston Celtics.

With the Warriors of the Golden State square with the Boston Celtics in 2022 NBA Finale, Boston guard Marcus Smart offered an interesting take on what 2018 could have been…

During an episode of The old man and the threeSmart told JJ Redick that if his team had gotten past LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in the postseason, the Celtics would have beaten the Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals.

Well, they didn’t… but here’s what he told Redick anyway!

“If we were going to the championship [in 2018] Instead of LeBron and those guys, we would definitely have beaten Golden State this year,” Smart told Redick.

His answer came from a question in which Redick asked if Smart ever remembered a season when the Eastern Conference felt so wide open. Boston was able to win the East for the first time since 2010 by defeating the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat en route to the NBA Finals. Of course, Golden State has won the Western Conference six of the last eight seasons.

Game 1 will be played on Thursday, June 2nd at 9pm ET/6pm CT at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Marcus Smart: The Boston Celtics would have beaten the Golden State Warriors in 2018

If we’re going to look back at the postseason in question, remember that Boston was the No. 2 East pick in that playoff. Despite not winning the Atlantic, the Celtics did have home field advantage over the No. 4 Cavs this postseason. Unfortunately, Boston fell in seven games at home to James and Co. Cleveland would be swept by the Warriors in the 2018 NBA Finals.

So while Smart may be right, the same things could theoretically happen this year for another title contender: the Houston Rockets. Houston would also lose Game 7 at home in the Western Conference Finals. The team that Daryl Morey constructed was designed solely to beat the Warriors in the postseason. While the Rockets could have won the 2018 NBA Finals, they didn’t.

Ultimately, Smart inadvertently gave the favorite Warriors some bulletin board material about these comments. This 2018 team that he says Boston could have beaten saw Kevin Durant at the peak of his powers. Coincidentally, this is the most recent title Golden State has had with its big three Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. They want ring #4… for the pinky!

Golden State should win it six, but these NBA Finals have the potential to go the distance, too.