Stephen A. Smith hits Celtics’ title chances with Kristaps Porzingis truth bomb

On Tuesday evening, the Boston Celtics went up 1-0 in their Eastern Conference Finals series vs the Indiana Pacers courtesy of a wild late game comeback, which was opened up by several backbreaking mistakes from the Pacers in crunch time. Ultimately, it was a Jaylen Brown three-pointer from the corner that sent the game into overtime after the Pacers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and the Celtics were able to make a few more plays down the stretch of the extra period to win the game and take the early series lead.

Still, overall, the game was not exactly the walk in the park that some fans had envisioned it would be going into the series, as the rest of the Celtics’ playoff run up to this point has largely been.

On Tuesday, Celtics big man Al Horford struggled mightily, shooting well below 50% from the field and being thoroughly outplayed by Pacers’ center Myles Turner.  Horford is of course starting in the place of injured Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis, who is expected to return to the lineup at some point in this series.

One person who thinks that Porzingis is absolutely essential to the Celtics’ title chances is none other than ESPN sports media personality Stephen A. Smith, who recently took to First Take to relay his thoughts.

“We’re not giving the Boston Celtics a chance to win this championship without Porzingis,” said Smith, via First Take on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “You need him to win it. Without him, nobody’s looking at them beating Dallas or Minnesota… Even with him, what exactly is it that you’re going to do, because what is he reasonably going to be able to do? That’s a legitimate question in terms of looking at him, that calf injury… they’re going to see what he’s made of… You’re looking at two teams in Dallas and Minnesota that are incredibly tenacious.”

Can the Celtics win it all?