Warriors - Celtics: The 10 most important NBA Finals players, ranked from 'important role player' to 'Steph Curry'

The Warriors vs. the Celtics are the matchup we only could’ve dreamed of at the beginning of the season. There are so many points of intrigue here. It feels like the sides are nearly completely even.

There are so many stories involved here, too. It’s a matchup between a franchise that has climbed itself back up to the mountaintop after lots of sustained success last decade against a team trying to reclaim old glory with young faces.

It’s one of the prominent faces of the NBA’s old guard in Steph Curry up against a new challenger in Jayson Tatum. It’s Ime Udoka trying to accomplish some history as a head coach against one of his former peers.

There’s just so much to talk about here when it comes to this matchup. And that’s super exciting.

But, at the end of it all, this is playoff basketball. And, typically, in playoff basketball, the team with the best players usually has the best shot at winning.

But there are so many ways to cut that. It’s not just about having the best player in the series, but it’s also about who the next three or four best players are. And what roles do those players play? How can they impact the game? There are so many good players to talk about in this series.

So I took the time to actually rank them all from best to very good because, of course, it’s the NBA Finals. There are no bad players out here.

Let’s dig in.