Danny Green thinks the 2019-20 Lakers would beat the 2023-24 Celtics in six games.
Danny Green won three championships in his NBA career, with the last one coming in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers. On a recent appearance on the Lakers Nation podcast, Green was asked what would happen if that Lakers team faced the 2023-24 Boston Celtics and he was confident his team would win.
“Luckily, those two teams aren’t that far removed in today’s game, right? The rules aren’t changed as much,” Green said. “… But to those two teams, (they) match up very well. I think we (were) deeper at the big position. If we keep Avery Bradley, we have multiple defenders that can guard those guys.
“And ultimately I think they would’ve been younger than us so we have the experience on them,” Green continued. “And I forgot we had (Rajon) Rondo, so I didn’t mention Rondo on the wing. You had Rondo behind (LeBron James). All those minds, point guards, wings, positions, the mental part of it, I think we would win in six.
“But, as they get older, it would have been trouble for us,” Green stated. “As they got more mature… It depends on the timing. If we’re talking about 2024 today, we probably be too old. But 2020, I think we would have got them in 2020. They are a little bit younger, a little bit more inexperienced.
“I think they’re a very good team,” Green said. “They just showed some holes to me which shows some vulnerability. Not saying that we weren’t either, but I think we have the minds that know how to attack that and kinda make some of those guys show up on the big stage that aren’t ready for it.”
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I think this would have been quite a fascinating matchup, in part, because of how different the two are stylistically. The Lakers were quite a big team that didn’t shoot a lot of threes (ranked 22nd in threes attempted at 31.6 per game) but did a lot of damage inside (ranked 2nd in points in the paint per game with 52.8).
They had Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, and JaVale McGee as this three-headed monster of bigs. LeBron James was another relatively big body and they just crushed teams in the paint.
Thanks largely to Davis, Alex Caruso, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the Lakers also ranked third in the NBA in defensive rating at 106.1. They were a great team that finished the season with a 52-19 record and then dominated in the playoffs. The Lakers won each of the first three rounds in five games to make it to the Finals, where they dispatched the Miami Heat in six games to win the title.
As for these Celtics, they did most of their damage from outside. They attempted 42.5 threes per game this season, which was the most in the league. They connected on 38.8% of those shots too, which ranked second. The likes of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser were letting it fly.
The Celtics excelled on defense too, with their defensive rating of 110.6 being the second-best in the league. They finished with a 64-18 record and lost just two games en route to the Finals. Then on the big stage, they comfortably beat the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
So, who would win this matchup? It’s hard to say, but I might just give the edge to the Celtics. They just have too many players, who are capable of stepping up on offense and that advantage they’d have from beyond the arc would help them get over the line in my opinion.