We all know about the stars who populate the NBA Finals.
Celtics forwards Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum and Mavericks guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are the undeniable headliners, but the series’ role players could prove just as substantial a factor in determining which team hoists another Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Here’s a look at six such players — three from each team — who can have a decisive impact on the series.
Boston Celtics
Point guard Jrue Holiday: The veteran guard was — besides Brown and Tatum — arguably the Celtics’ most important player in their Eastern Conference Finals sweep of the Pacers. The three-time first-team All-NBA defensive team member forced a pivotal turnover on Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton in overtime of Game 1, a 133-128 Boston win. Then, in Game 3, he sealed the 114-111 victory with a steal on guard Andrew Nembhard with 3.1 seconds remaining.
Holiday’s defense against the Mavericks elite backcourt will be a huge key to the series. During the regular season, Holiday held Irving to 4-of-9 shooting, per NBA Advanced Stats Player Tracking. He fared worse against Doncic, who shot 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) when Holiday guarded him in the teams’ two regular season games. But as Boston’s defensive leader, he must come up big to prevent Doncic and Irving from running away with the series.
Center Al Horford: Horford’s clutch three-point shooting helped Boston pull out the Game 3 win against Indiana. He tied a career postseason high with seven makes from beyond the arc and finished scoring 23 points as the Celtics narrowly escaped with the win.
Kristaps Porzingis’ injury has forced Horford, 38, to play a larger role than intended, but the veteran’s steady touch has been crucial as Boston’s glided to the finals.
Shooting guard Derrick White: The do-it-all guard recently received lavish praise from Knicks forward Josh Hart, who said White was “more impactful than [Jayson Tatum]” during an appearance on “The Pivot” podcast.
“Look at every main play in the last six minutes of the fourth to overtime. Every big play, he made,” Hart elaborated.
White is averaging a career playoff-high 17.8 points and is shooting 40.7 percent on 8.4 three-point attempts per game. He’s also a stellar defender, averaging two steals and a team-high 2.3 blocks per game against Indiana.
Irving shot 5-of-11 in head-to-head matchups with White during the regular season, including 0-of-3 from deep, with two turnovers and no assists. White had a much tougher time keeping up with Doncic, which could lead to Holiday receiving that assignment more often. The Western Conference Finals MVP shot 81.8 percent (9-of-11) when guarded by White, scoring 22 points in 2:29 of matchup time.
Dallas Mavericks
Power forward Daniel Gafford: In one of the most consequential trades during the season, Dallas acquired Gafford from the Wizards for Richaun Holmes and a 2024 first-rounder. The five-year pro averaged 2.6 blocks per game against the Timberwolves in the WCF, getting the upper hand in his matchups with Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. In the five-game series, he blocked as many shots (three) as he conceded (three) against Towns, while he swatted one Gobert attempt and forced him into two turnovers.
Gafford also made an excellent block on a Mike Conley drive in Game 3 to squash Minnesota’s comeback attempt.
As good as Gafford is near the rim, it’s his ability to switch on the perimeter that could lead Dallas to an upset in the finals.
Gafford, a second-round pick (38th overall) in 2019, is a versatile defender capable of guarding multiple positions. In the Western Conference Finals, he held Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards to 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) shooting as the nearest defender. In the first round, forward Paul George was 30.8 percent (4-of-13) when defended by Gafford, and point guard James Harden turned the ball over three times while shooting 25 percent (1-of-4).
Center Dereck Lively II: Joining Gafford in the Mavericks frontcourt, Lively’s defense was just as suffocating against Minnesota’s high-priced bigs in the semifinals. Gobert and Towns combined to shoot 4-of-18 (22.2 percent) when defended by the Mavericks’ 2023 first-round pick.
He also made NBA history on the offensive end after finishing the series 16-of-16 from the field, becoming the first player to shoot 100 percent during a series on at least 16 attempts.
Including the second round, Lively has made 21 consecutive baskets, the longest streak of the play-by-play era in NBA postseason history (1996-97). As impressive as that is, it’s not even the longest streak of consecutive made field goals by a Mavericks player this season. Earlier this year, Gafford set the play-by-play era mark (33) from March 5-14.
Power forward P.J. Washington: Third on the team in several key categories this postseason, Washington truly shined in Round 2 against the Thunder. In the six-game series, the former 2019 lottery pick (No. 12 overall) shot 46.9 percent from beyond the arc and had three consecutive games scoring more than 20 points, his longest streak this season.
Washington was quieter in the Western Conference Finals, shooting 25 percent from three-point range. But he made two in four of the five games. Washington has been a steady contributor for the Mavericks the entire postseason and has the potential to swing a game in the finals with a timely three.
