Celtics Sweep Pacers to Earn Second NBA Finals Appearance in Three Years
The Boston Celtics defeated the Indiana Pacers 105-102 to sweep the Eastern Conference Finals and return to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 29 points on 11-22 field goal shooting, and his overall excellence during this series earned him the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP. His teammate Jayson Tatum won the inaugural Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP in 2022, and Jimmy Butler received the honor last year. Tatum was an MVP candidate in this series as well, and he had 26 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, and a team-high eight assists in the series-clincher. As usual, Jrue Holiday (17 points, nine rebounds) and Derrick White (16 points, four rebounds, four assists, five steals) made strong contributions at both ends of the court. White's three pointer with 45 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winning shot and the final points in the series. The Celtics are playing so well that it is easy to forget that they are missing one of their top players, injured former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis.
Playing without injured All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton for the second straight game, the Pacers fought until the end. Andrew Nembhard posted Halibuton-like numbers, leading the team in scoring (24 points) and assists (game-high 10). Pascal Siakam added 19 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, and T.J. McConnell added 15 points off of the bench, but the Pacers needed more than eight points and four rebounds from Myles Turner.
The Celtics led 58-57 at halftime, but fell behind by as many as six points in the third quarter, and trailed 83-80 heading into the final stanza. After Nembhard's free throw pushed the margin to nine (94-85) at the 8:57 mark of the fourth quarter, it looked for a moment like the Pacers might extend the series, but the Celtics chipped away until White drilled the game-winner on a drive and kick by Brown. Three of the four games in this series were close at the end, but the Celtics proved their superiority by winning all three of those games.
It is easy to knock the Celtics for a variety of real and imagined reasons--and people will continue to do so at least until the Celtics win an NBA championship--but they have reached the Eastern Conference Finals six times in the past eight seasons, including each of the past three, and they are now in the NBA Finals for the second time in there years. Here is the list of teams that have accomplished those feats since the Chicago Bulls' 1998 "Last Dance":
1) Detroit Pistons (reached Eastern Conference Finals 2003-08, reached NBA Finals 2004-05)
2) Golden State Warriors (reached Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals 2015-19, 22)
Yes, the Pistons capped off their run by winning the 2004 NBA championship, and the Warriors won NBA championships in 2015, 2017-18, and 2022--but does the failure (thus far) to win an NBA championship render all of the Celtics' other winning irrelevant? The Celtics can make that question moot by winning the NBA championship in the next few weeks, but I would argue that even if they fall short they have still been one of the most successful NBA teams of the past two decades. There are many teams that have received more hype while accomplishing a lot less. The Tatum-Brown duo has accomplished a lot more than most of the various "super teams" that have been built and then imploded in the past decade or so.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Derrick White, Indiana Pacers, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, Pascal Siakam, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 1:23 AM
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