I wouldn't say Bam is a traditional rim protecting C and part of the Celtics turnaround this year was actually mixing it up sometimes and putting Timelord in the Giannis role rather than the primary big defender. But you know what works defensively in the playoffs? Having a bunch of defensive talent. When you look at what's worked defensively over the playoffs the past few years, it's not one style or the other. The good defensive teams often have 1-2 DPOY level defenders with an additional 2-3 All defense level defenders in their rotation....sometimes they have that in their main 5.
The "worst" defender on the Celtics that played more than 10 minutes tonight was probably Jaylen Brown. Insane how much defensive talent they have. The Bucks stacked with Giannis, Jrue, Tucker, and Brook the year before....Lakers with LeBron (DPOY level when focused), AD, Caruso, Green....Raptors with Marc, Kawhi, Lowry, Siakam, Van Vleet, Green (OG wasn't even playing but they had him too)....Warriors with Draymond, Iggy, Klay, Bogut, Durant. There's no secret here, those teams were ****ing stacked on defense and this Boston team is no different.