For the twenty-third time in their history they will be the Boston Celtics to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
The historic Massachusetts franchise in fact respected the predictions of the day before by inflicting the fateful victory sweep to Indiana Pacers after a series which, if in the individual episodes appeared more balanced than expected, still saw Joe Mazzulla’s team confirm itself as the best in the East in this 2023/24 season.
The Celtics enter the final act on the strength of a devastating journey throughout the season: first in their Conference during the regular season, they lost only two games during the entire playoffs and in particular they won all their away games.
The celebration of Jaylen Brown and his Celtics, champions in the East
Someone observed that Boston’s path in the postseason was not too complicated also due to the injuries of the opposing stars having first faced the Heat without Jimmy Butler, then the Cavaliers without Donovan Mitchell in the last few games and finally the Pacers who lost Tyrese Haliburton halfway through game 2, but even imagining the complete opponents or hypothesizing different ones in the East, the feeling is that the favorites would still have remained the Boston Celtics, who in turn played the majority of the playoffs without Kristaps Porzingis and again with the almost thirty-eight year old Al Horford starting center.
The group that made Boston great again after the Allen-Garnett-Pierce era has demonstrated once again that it can overcome both the absence of its starting center and the departure of a fundamental balancer from the past like Marcus Smart, replaced with Jrue Holiday who in the series with Indiana once again allowed himself a leading role but who always confirmed the qualities that have already brought him to the NBA ring with Milwaukee (which on the other hand suffered heavily from his loss)
The definitive emergence of Derrick White and the still notable impact of Horford himself have in fact provided, with Holiday orchestrating it all, a great supporting cast for the two designated superstars: Jayson Tatum e Jaylen Brown.
And if in previous seasons it had been more Tatum who was invested with the role of leading player, this time it was Brown who received the prize of MVP of the Eastern Conference finalan absolutely deserved recognition also for how already in the previous playoff series he had established himself as best on the pitch on various occasions.
Indiana, however, sold its life dearly and undoubtedly has some complaints especially at the end of game 1 having come very close to starting the series with a sensational victory at the TD Garden. After having suffered the maximum disadvantage of -13 at 92-79 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter, the team coached by Rick Carlisle it had in fact responded with a devastating 15-2 to come back into contact in the next three minutes and led by a majestic Pascal I’m sorry (final double double with 24 and 12 rebounds) had come to play the last 100 seconds of the match with 115-110 in her favor.
However, the last minute and 40 minutes of regulation saw the Pacers as protagonists of a true manual on how to throw away a victory. Already with just over 60″ to go Haliburton had become the protagonist before a great defensive play by stopping Derrick White’s equalizing triple but then took a questionable shot after a few seconds allowing Brown to take the rebound and make 2/ 2 from the line to bring the Celtics back to -1.
Another dramatic sequence for the guests is the one preceding the last 30″: Nembhard scores the new +3, Tatum again misses the equalizing triple but then Haliburton loses the ball badly and gives the Celtics a good 27 seconds to try to make an impact again. White and Tatum decide to go for a two-pointer but they both miss, Myles Turner captures one of his 10 rebounds (double double for him too with 23 points) and Haliburton again suffers a foul with 10″ on the clock. However, the Pacers are not in the bonus and the former Kings and Siakam make a final mess by losing the ball on the throw-in.
So many missed opportunities and this time Jaylen Brown presents the bill: triple from the corner, first basket on the fourth attempt from beyond the arc and tied at 117 leading to overtime. Despite not scoring for more than a minute and a half and with 1’46” left in the first overtime, Indiana found the strength to take the lead with three free throws from Haliburton and Jayson Tatumtop scorer of the match with 36 points and 12 rebounds, to score the six consecutive points that definitively broke the Pacers’ resistance and allowed the Celtics to grab the victory.
A notable insult for Indiana who was hit in game 2 from the aforementioned Haliburton injury who however wavering (we are always talking about a twenty-four year old at his first opportunity to play to really win) remains the most talented man at Rick Carlisle’s disposal and who leaves the pitch in a third quarter in which the Celtics were already taking the lead wide.
This time Mazzulla’s team does not allow the final sprint to their opponents and is led by a great Brown 40 points with 14/27 and by Jrue Holiday’s double double of 15 points and 10 assists with only one missed shot out of 7 wins by 126-110 being able to show up at 2-0 in Indianapolis.
The Celtics’ experience and desire to win resolve another finale for strong hearts at Gainbridge Fieldhouse where the Pacers they begin the last two and a half minutes with an 8 point lead having been on top throughout the second half and carried by Andrew Nembhard who disguises himself as Haliburton placing 32 points with 12/21 and from the heart of TJ McConnell. While in game 1 it seemed that Indiana wasted more in this third game instead it is Boston that takes the victory bringing himself back into contact with triples from Tatum and Al Horford (who concludes with 7/12 from three, compared to 1/2 twos, for 23 points) and relying on Jrue Holiday to finish the job.
The decisive man is in fact the former Sixers who first scores the basket plus the foul of the pass and then decides the match not with a basket, but with a ball recovered in transition. Practically all of Jrue Holiday in thirty seconds.
As we mentioned at the beginning, the individual matches tell of a Boston dragged into point-to-point finals and with apparent difficulty in shaking off an opponent motivated by the illustrious scalps of its previous series (Indiana first eliminated the third-placed Bucks, then the second-placed Knicks in the regular season ) but the 3-0 which is a prelude to game 4 instead it speaks of a clear dominance on the part of the Celtics who exploited to their advantage the inexperience at very high levels of the majority of Indiana’s players (with the exception of Siakam, already NBA champion in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors) and who in turn had the merit of never giving up and fighting until the last siren, showcasing the hunger for victories of a group that has been waiting for the Larry O’Brian Trophy for some time after having already come close to it two years ago.
The game 4 script is practically the same as the other matches: Indiana fights tooth and nail to get the flag point (which it probably would have also deserved) Boston resists, not allowing its opponents to escape which would probably have meant 3 -1 e in the last minutes he makes the final push.
The Pacers start the last 5 minutes on +5 led once again by Nembhard (24 with 10/18, 3/6 threes and 10 assists) and Siakam (19 with 10 rebounds) the Celtics reach parity with yet another double double from Tatum’s 26+13 rebounds (albeit with 3/11 from three) and Holiday’s energy. Then there is no scoring again for a good three minutes: the Celtics are unable to find the opening basket but on the other side Jaylen Brown he is possessed in defense and closes all the gaps to his opponents who in turn do not put their heads forward.
So the last minute begins with Derrick White’s second triple in 9 attempts who proves to be invaluable for this team and launches the Celtics to +3 before Nembhard’s error for the new tie and above all the decisive rebound on Tatum’s missed triple captured needless to say by Jrue Holiday.
It ends 105-102 e the Conference finals in the east are definitively over with the triumph of the Celtics who now look to the NBA Finals as favourites, in all probability meeting the Dallas Mavericks (who in turn against the Minnesota Timberwolves enjoy that 3-0 never recovered by anyone in history) and therefore playing for the ring against perhaps the most hated ex among those in activity: Kyrie Irving.
It’s not yet official Irving at the Finals, but Celtics fans haven’t forgotten…
The more than probable match against the Mavs of the terrible (and lately more close-knit than ever) pair Irving/Luka Doncic it will be a much more convincing obstacle for Boston’s ambitions of bringing the ring back to Massachusetts sixteen years after the last time (which was the only championship won by the Celtics since 1986). In the meantime, however, Mazzulla’s team is enjoying the access to the Finals increasingly aware of their strength and that they fully deserve the label of favourite.
Indiana for its part honored in the best way the first playoffs in which it passed the first round since 2014 (with five years in a row between 2016 and 2020 in which it was eliminated in its debut series) and if the 4- 0 is undoubtedly heavy and in many ways mocking, we could only be at the beginning of a journey that could lead the Carlisle team to be stably competitive.
Siakam’s addition gave the leap in quality that led to the Pacers playing in the Conference finals and the starting point of the offseason it will definitely have to be its confirmation to hope that he and Haliburton (locked until 2029 with a 210 million contract) can begin a real winning cycle and that these excellent playoffs do not remain an isolated case like so many in the past (call Atlanta Hawks)
If the future is bright for Indiana the present continues to smile at the Boston Celtics. We’ll see if this time the Massachusetts greens will be able to take the final step towards winning the NBA title.
Under the cover of a calm (so to speak) mathematics teacher lies a crazy fanatic of everything that revolves around the world, with the NBA in mind. Supporter of the Taiwan national team before discovering that the video game Street Hoop was lying badly, later adept of the Mavericks Fan For Life sect.
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2024-05-28 16:49:55
#Boston #Celtics #return #NBA #finals #Play.it #USA
