Which players have played best against the Celtics all-time?

Celtics fans can’t stop naming the obscure players who torched their team out of nowhere (even if it only happened once). OG Anunoby’s game-winner in the bubble popped into my head the other day. It turns out, he’s scored the fewest points per game in his career against the Celtics.

But that one shot.

It’s an enduring Boston experience and one that even persisted into one of the most dominant championship seasons in franchise history. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Andrew Nembhard and TJ McConnell made their unlikely bids to join the All-Celtics Killer team.

“Some of those guys turned into f***ing Michael Jordan or whatever,” Jaylen Brown said after Game 3 at Indiana. “It was like, ‘what is going on?’”

It’s that unexpected sustained success against the Celtics — playing above your head and having a memorable moment — that gives you villain status in Boston.

A quick search of the players who scored the most points per game all-time against the Celtics reveals the obvious suspects. The actual Michael Jordan leads them all with 30.7 points per game in 56 torturous matchups. He’s an obvious headliner, especially given that his playoff breakout 63-point game in 1986 happened at Boston Garden. The Celtics won that game and the series, but nobody has stopped bringing it up since. Larry Bird called him God disguised as Michael Jordan.

The 2024 Finals deflated a pair of past Luka Dončić regular season game-winners that, along with his 29.9 PPG, made him an obvious Celtics killer to begin his career. No Boston fans, for now, will fear Dončić after seeing Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard slow him individually on the big stage.

Kevin Durant similarly lost his allure in that 2022 first round series, while Wilt Chamberlain and Joel Embiid have stacked up too many losses against the green. The Celtics have also slowed Giannis Antetokounmpo well compared to the league.

LeBron James, beyond his 28.8 PPG, changed his career and became a meme in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals at Boston. Who can forget that look, but he’s only 33-26 in his career against the Celtics. He started slow, but when he’s beaten them, he’s made it hurt. He’s a certified Celtics killer.

Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Bob Pettit and Steph Curry found ways to dent the Celtics’ most dominant moments. They are Celtics killers, too. That gives us a pretty good six-man rotation.

So, let’s turn away from the stars and focus on role players and give some love to the players who have made their names by beating up on Boston.

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How can we start with any name other than Ish Smith? Smith, who’s played for 13 teams, has 12 double-figure scoring games against the Celtics and averaged 9.6 PPG against them, despite posting 7.1 PPG in his career. He shot 50% in 25 matchups, including pouring 27 points on them with the Wizards in a 2020 win, 20 points with Detroit in 2018 on 8-for-9 shooting inside the arc and a 19-point performance with eight rebounds and eight assists in a 2016 Pistons win. Smith did all that while only hitting six threes, though three came on six attempts in a 2018-19 meeting.

Have many other players scored more? Certainly, but again, some of this is about players exceeding their standard against Boston. Smith’s scoring average vs. the Celtics is higher than it is against any other team.

That’s also the case for Caris LeVert, whose 51-point onslaught at the Garden on Mar. 3, 2020 set his career-high while Brooklyn overcame a 21-point deficit to win 129-120 in overtime. It left a mark despite it just being a midseason matchup in a year where the Celtics reached the ECF. Maybe the months-long COVID hiatus, which happened after only four more games, let the loss linger longer than it would’ve otherwise. LeVert went on to score 41 points in 2022 in an early season win at the Garden. He averaged 16.7 PPG in his 17 games against Boston, his fourth-highest total, but that increased to 20.1 PPG on the road. His 21 points helped the Cavs beat the Celtics in Game 2 at TD Garden in May.

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The two scariest Celtics opponents that I can remember were Khris Middleton and Dwyane Wade. It’s been remarkable to see age slow the damage Middleton used to do against Boston — a career 15.5 PPG scorer against Boston (now 26th amongst his opponents). Middleton scored 22 PPG in 2020 and 24 PPG in 2021 against Boston, but his 2018 first round performance across seven games is what squarely clinched his spot on this team, averaging 24.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG and 3.1 APG (59.8% FG, 61% 3PT) and hitting a half-court shot to force overtime in Game 1.

He’s scored 20+ points against Boston eight times, five of them Bucks wins, while shooting 38.9% from three across all the matchups. His absence in the 2022 seven-game second-round series is a great Bucks-Celtics what-if.

Wade averaged 33.2 PPG on 56.4% shooting against the Celtics while Boston took care of Miami in five games. One year later, alongside LeBron James, he averaged 30.2 PPG on 52.6% shooting to flip the result. His takedown of Rajon Rondo, leading to a grueling elbow injury the Celtics star played through, didn’t endear him to Boston fans either. Like Middleton, Wade’s impact diminished with injuries and age, falling to 21.4 PPG in the 2012 East finals and 19.5 PPG against Boston in his career. That’s below his career average, but he makes the cut.

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Speaking of Rondo, he went on to drive a 2-0 lead in the 2017 Bulls-Celtics series and hit a game-winner with the Lakers at the Garden. Rondo also won LA a championship, making him worthy of his own consideration.

Donovan Mitchell: His 29.6 PPG against the Celtics is third all-time behind Jordan and Dončić, a high leap above his career 24.8 PPG. Mitchell hit 16 threes across three games in May, averaging 31.7 PPG and working a 2-1 series deficit before an injury ended his series. That’s why I can’t stop believing in the Cavaliers despite Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen being the opposite of Celtics killers.

Jimmy Butler: Remember the pull-up three attempt in the corner against Al Horford before Derrick White’s famous put-back saved Boston in Game 6? Butler’s Heat beat the Celtics in the East finals as an eight seed in 2023 and nearly overcame both a 3-2 series and 98-85 late Game 7 deficit the year prior. Even if Butler’s 18.9 PPG against the Celtics are in line with his career average, those three free throws going through the rim and his pull-up three in transition over Horford that would’ve drastically altered recent Celtics history if it fell are seared in the heads of Boston fans. He’s aging, but vowed Miami would’ve beaten the Celtics if he was healthy for the first round last year. Does he have one more act in this rivalry?

Kemba Walker: Kemba averaged 30.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 5.0 APG in 2018-19 against the Celtics, which likely played some part in the team deciding to sign him as Kyrie Irving’s replacement in 2020. His tenure started strong, then went sideways quickly due to injuries, unfortunately killing Boston in more than one way. To wit, it’s interesting how many Celtics killer candidates later joined them: Tristan Thompson, Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday, Oshae Brissett, Evan Fournier, Kyrie Irving, Enes Freedom, Danilo Gallinari, Greg Monroe, Dalano Banton, Marcus Morris and now Lonnie Walker IV all had success against the Celtics before landing in green.

Andrew Toney: Before my time, but it’s hard to not include someone whose nickname became the Boston Strangler. Averaged 17.8 PPG in his career against Boston on 50% shooting, scored 61 points over the first two games of the 1981 East finals in Boston in the seven-game battle, then dropped 30 points three times across their revenge series one year later, including 39 to take a 3-1 lead in Game 4.

Kyle Lowry: His 16.3 PPG against the Celtics are only exceeded by his 16.6 PPG against Philadelphia. He now plays for the 76ers and has a chance to maintain his maddening impact on four or more games against Boston, already having irritated them for years between Toronto and Miami. His in-bounds pass stole Game 3 of the second round series in the bubble, forcing the series to go down to the final minutes of a seventh game. Lowry scored 33 points with six threes, playing 53 minutes in Game 6.

Honorable mentions: Dwight Howard, Devin Booker, Trae Young, Caleb Martin, Moe Wagner, Bernard King, Ron Artest, Nikola Jokić, Rajon Rondo, Dominique Wilkins, Andrew Wiggins, Saddiq Bey, Andrew Nembhard, TJ McConnell, and Evan Fournier. Add more in the comments.