Brad Stevens the mastermind behind Boston’s offseason trades for Kristap Porzingis and Jrue Holiday

I know, I know. It’s much too soon to be conceding the Larry O’Brien Trophy to the Boston Celtics, much less thinking about who should win the Finals MVP award. The Celtics took a 2-0 lead over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night, and the two players who stepped up the most in the first two games of the series weren’t even on the team last year.

Stevens rises to power

There probably aren’t too many people who are shocked that the Celtics are back in the Finals for the second time in the last three years. This was a team that has been constructed to be in this position since they drafted Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in back-to-back years. Since that time they have come close, but have fallen short of their chance to be the first team in the history of the NBA to win 18 championships.

Since Brown was taken 3rd in the 2016 draft, this team has been to the Eastern Conference Finals six times in eight years. Up until 2021, the team was under the guidance of general manager Danny Ainge in the front office and Brad Stevens on the sidelines as head coach. Ainge, who had a legendary playing career in Boston, deserves a lot of credit for building the foundation of this team that is in the running for a record 18th title in franchise history, but since Stevens took over, the C’s have been in two NBA Finals in the last three years.

Stevens has risen through the ranks from humble beginnings to being the decision maker for one of, if not the, most important franchise in the NBA. His playing career ended after he graduated from Division III school DePauw University. He never played in the NBA, nor was he groomed by the top coaches in the game. He worked his way up to prominence going from an administrative job as “coordinator of basketball operations” at Butler University to head coach in just seven years.

Celtics come calling

After seven years as Butler’s head coach, and two trips to the Final Four in 2010 and 2011, the Celtics came calling. He spent nine years as Boston’s coach before making a move to the front offices. He had already coached Tatum and Brown for a handful of years, but when he went from watch the games from the sideline to the sky box this team turned into a real title contender.

Two years ago, this team seemed to have everything needed to win it all. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were young, but were still one of the best backcourt duos in the league. They had a couple of defensive studs in Marcus Smart and Robert Williams and role players like Grant Williams and Derrick White who was just emerging on to the national scene. Things looked good in Boston despite coming up just short in the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors.

The next year, this team was expected to get to the Finals again, but were chopped down by the eighth seeded Miami Heat in their shock run to the championship series. That was all that Brad Stevens needed to see to realize this team needed this team needed a makeover if they were going to reach their ultimate goal: the record setting 18th title in franchise history.

The trades that changed everything

Stevens whipped up a couple of trades that sent Robert Willams to Portland, and Marcus Smart to Memphis while bringing in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Smart was a fan favorite in Boston, but Jrue Holiday was as elite or better on the defensive end and has championship experience after winning it all with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Porzingis had never been this far into the playoffs, but he is a two-way big man who is a mismatch nightmare at both baskets. With his ability to shoot from deep, put the ball on the deck and impose underneath the rim, he was just waiting for his chance to make a difference on a team that had championship potential.

Holiday and Porzingis fit in flawlessly from the start. On a team already full of stars, they weren’t asked to do anything out of the ordinary. They knew their role, they played their role and aided in earning the Celtics the one seed in the East, home court throughout the playoffs while Stevens was named the NBA Executive of the Year. Holiday is in his 15th year in the league, and his numbers a a far cry from his career highs, but they haven’t needed to be. He’s averaged 12.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season and Porzingis posted 20.1 points 7.2 rebounds and 2 assists an outing.

Neither of these two were brought in to carry the Celtics to the title, but they were brought in to help Boston fill those voids that plagued them in playoff runs past. In an era of “Super Teams” and “Big Threes” Brad Stevens has constructed a team that perfectly compliments each other. There are no egos. There are no spats about who takes more shots, or who needs to score more points.

The perfect pieces to the puzzle

That philosophy starts from top up. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum freely interchange nights in which one or the other will be the top scorer. If there is no bickering between the two stars, there will certainly be no room for bickering between the role players.

In the Finals, the Mavs have tried to zero in on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Celtics stars have welcomed that strategy over the first two games. In Game 1, Porzingis returned from a calf strain after nearly 40 days on the bench and had one of the best first halves of his career, going 7/9 for 18 points and igniting TD Garden with his three point shooting and highlight reel blocks.

He sparked a run at the end of the first that would help the Celtics build a 29 point lead in the opening half, and end the night with 22 points, 6 rebound sna three blocks. In Game 2, it was Jrue Holiday who put the team on his shoulders and stretched the series lead to 2-0. With double teams coming for Tatum and Brown all night, Jrue Holiday used his basketball IQ to slide into those empty spaces and devastate the Mavs defense. He had 17 in the first half and ended the game with 26 points on 11/13 shooting. The 26 points he scored was just two away from his season high which he set in Game 1 against Indiana in the Conference Finals.

The Celtics are two games away from returning Boston to championship glory. If they end up winning the title, it will be tough to decide who deserves to be Finals MVP especially if the role players continue to step up in the remaining games. If it were up to me, Brad Stevens wouldn’t just be Executive of the Year, he’d be the MVP of the NBA Finals.