Zolak & Bertrand: Who deserves more credit, Brad Stevens or Danny Ainge?

On Thursday's edition of Zolak & Bertrand, the crew discusses who deserves more credit for this version of the Celtics, Brad Stevens or Danny Ainge?

It goes back to the drafts...

Scott Zolak: 

It really gets down to the discussion of Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens, who has a bigger hand in this, and we joked yesterday on-air about would you give Marcus Smart a ring if the team wins because you would feel bad that he was a big part of this and helping these guys grow. Beetle said no, but you would give Ainge one. Boston is a tough place from a destination standpoint for athletes wanting to come here. There are so many other cities that you could go where you could play and have it better for you from a tax purpose, from a lifestyle purpose, from a nightlife purpose. I think it's more Ainge than Stevens right now because he nailed the draft. He drafted Jaylen Brown and then the next year it was Markell Fultz and they grabbed Jayson Tatum at #3. 

So, you got both guys at #3. You're drafting guys to start developing, and then you also drafted Marcus Smart. Smart was a big piece of getting these guys to learn how to play and be pros and all that. We can't just throw Marcus Smart to the side and say he wasn't a part of something. Then it sprinkled in with Brad because what you did is you didn’t have to go recruit guys. Remember you rolled out the whole red carpet for Kevin Durant that one year and you brought Kelly freaking Olynyk for some reason with Tom Brady, it's just a bad weirdness. Those type of guys aren't going to come here because it's not that type of destination. But when you trade for guys like you did for Derrick White, like Brad Stevens did, when you get Kristaps Porzingis and 2 picks for Marcus Smart and then you find a way to get Jrue Holiday here, you make those guys come here. 

Listen to the full segment!

The Boston Celtics held off a late rally by the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter, to win Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals on Sunday night at TD Garden by a 105-98 final.

Boston led by as many as 14 points in the closing minutes, before Dallas made it a two-possession game with a late run. Celtics point guard Derrick White made a timely blocked shot to kill the run for good, and effectively put the game away.

Jrue Holiday led the Celtics in scoring with 26 points, shooting 11-for-14 from the field (78.6%). Jayson Tatum struggled again shooting the ball on offense (6-for-22, 27.3%), but finished with 12 assists and nine rebounds, just one board shy of a triple-double.

The Mavericks handily out-shot the Celtics in the first quarter, but escaped with only a three-point lead at 28-25. Dallas shot 52.4% as a team, compared to 36.8% for Boston, including 1-for-9 from three-point range.

Jaylen Brown did, however, add another highlight-reel slam dunk to his finals resume.

The shots started to fall more in the second quarter, as the C's shot 12-for-20 (60%) as a team. Point guard Jrue Holiday continued his hot shooting, ending up with 17 first-half points on 7-of-9 (77.8%) from the field.

In the third quarter, the Celtics started to pull away. At one point, they went on a 25-11 run to go up by 13 points ad 80-67. Tatum scored eight points and continued his strong passing night to get up to 10 assists.

Dallas ripped off a 7-0 run to cut the deficit back down to six with the final seconds ticking away in the third, but that's when Celtics guard Payton Pritchard woke up the whole arena. Pritchard heaved it from nearly half-court and made the Hail Mary shot, putting the C's back up by nine entering the fourth quarter at 83-74, and drawing the loudest pop of the series so far.

The Celtics pulled back away to lead by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, after a White steal set up a Holiday three-pointer, then White drained a triple of his own to make it 103-89 Celtics.

However, the Mavericks wouldn't go away quietly. They rattled off a 9-0 run to make it 103-98 C's with just 1:15 left in regulation, then had the ball with a chance to cut further into the deficit.

But then, White delivered a clutch blocked shot and Holiday pulled down the rebound, and Brown took it the other way to lay it in and put the Celtics back up seven with 30 seconds left. That's how the score would hold, as the Celtics take their 2-0 lead to Dallas.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks takes place Wednesday night at American Airlines Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.