An immense green tide swept away everything in its path. The Boston Celtics roughly swept the Dallas Mavericks last night in the first round of the NBA Finals (107-89). In the stands, the fans do not shy away from their pleasure. They almost all wore the green t-shirts placed by the franchise on each seat, and remained standing, applauding, until the last second despite a score acquired a long time ago. The noisy TD Garden, one of the toughest venues in the NBA, heated up and never cooled down. Did the hot atmosphere of the enclosure confuse Dallas?
The Celtics lead 1-0 and confirm their favorite status, after having already dominated the regular season (64 victories in the Eastern Conference). Two years after a first final, lost to the Golden State Warriors (4-2), have they learned and grown enough to return to an NBA title that has eluded them for 16 years? “It felt good, but to be honest, I was very nervous!” said Boston star Jayson Tatum after the meeting. A bit like a kid on the first day of school. Being in the final is not something common. But two years ago, we won the first round and we did not win the title. » There is still a long road ahead for the Celtics, especially in the NBA where reversals are almost the norm. But Boston showed total dominance last night.
Irving heckled in his old house
From the height of his 2.18 m, one man surpassed the others by a good head: the Latvian Kristaps Porzingis had not played for five weeks, injured in the calf. He returned to the floor in the middle of the first quarter and we only saw him: 11 points, 3 blocks, 3 rebounds in his first 7 minutes! “I had adrenaline in my veins,” he said after the meeting. Even walking before the match to enter the court, I felt the very warm support from everyone, from all the fans. I had all these thoughts in my head: Am I going to be 100%? It’s not ideal having been away all this time. I may not be in perfect shape, but I’m pretty good! »
On TV, viewers heard a female voice for the first time at this level: Doris Burke was the first, in the four major sports competitions in the United States, to comment on a match in the final. “It’s an important moment for our sport tonight,” reacts LeBron James from his sofa, eliminated in the first round by the Timberwolves. Love and respect for DB (Doris Burke) and for everything she does to help each of us grow. »
In the TD Garden, the Celtics fans are exultant: Kyrie Irving, the former player of the house who left on very bad terms, bites the dust. Now on the opposite team, he only scored 12 points last night (30% success and 0/5 from three points) and he really bit the dust, physically, on several occasions, when the Celtics took turns facing him, first Kristaps Porzingis, then Jaylen Brown, to counter his attempts. Enough to make the stands exult: “Kyrie sucks, Kyrie sucks!” » (Kyrie est à ch…) quickly became the anthem of the evening. The Celtics finished the match with 9 blocks, as many… as the number of assists for the Mavericks!
The score is heavy and so are the Texan heads this morning, Dallas having been moved like never before since the start of this play-off campaign. Only Luka Doncic avoided an even bigger disaster, finishing as the game’s top scorer (30 points, but only 1 assist). Next round Sunday evening, still in Boston.
