For the Celtics, the 2022 NBA playoffs began this afternoon at TD Garden vs. the Nets and when it was over, we were all treated to an Easter miracle. Boston had led by as much as 15 points (84-69) in the third quarter before unraveling in the fourth quarter as Brooklyn outscored them 29-19. Thankfully, the C's made one final winning play to escape with a thrilling 115-114 victory (their first playoff buzzer-beater since Paul Pierce vs. Miami in 2010!) in Game 1 of the first round. Celts shooting guard Jaylen Brown (23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 blocks) started the sequence by driving to the basket before finding point guard Marcus Smart (20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals) who surprisingly passed up a hero three-pointer and threaded a pass to Boston's superstar small forward Jayson Tatum (team-high 31 points, 8 assists, 2 blocks) for a spinning layup as time expired.
This would have been a crushing loss for the home team and we all know in the NBA how important home court is along with the outcome of Game 1s. We got the full Kyrie Irving experience as the Nets mercurial point guard dropped a game-high 39 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals while he also made fun of the TD Garden crowd and flipped them off on multiple occasions. Happy Ramadan everybody! Kyrie probably won't have a better game in this series while conversely his fellow star Kevin Durant (23 points, 6 turnovers) could never really get things going. What are the odds that Brooklyn's normally unstoppable power forward shoots 9-of-24 from the field again vs. Boston? Answer: highly unlikely.
The unexpected star for the Celtics in Game 1 was center Al Horford (20 points, 15 rebounds) who was forced to play 41 minutes at age 35 with Robert Williams likely out for this series. The Nets bench is not one of the strengths of their team but they outscored the Celtics 30-17. Boston killer and ageless point guard Goran Dragic had 14 points and five rebounds while bouncy power forward Nic Claxton added 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks (while he went 1-for-5 on free throws). One of the main reasons that the C's were able to survive this contest was their dominance on the glass: they had 14 more total rebounds (43-29) including nine more offensive boards (14-5). Boston is not the biggest team in the league but against Brooklyn, they have to take advantage of their size around the basket.
Boston led 29-28 after the first quarter and it was tied at 61 at halftime. The Celtics got rolling in the third quarter (35-24) before their offense mostly disappeared in the fourth quarter. This being the NBA, Game 2 won't happen until Wednesday (7, NBC Sports Boston). After losing in five games last season to Brooklyn in the first round (the Nets are 3-0 all-time in playoff series vs. the C's), Boston will have to flush this result and get focused on the next matchup. Durant and Irving are spectacular talents but let's be honest, the rest of the Nets (including first-time head coach Steve Nash) are much less impressive. The Celts are deeper, play better team basketball and have a legitimately qualified head coach in Ime Udoka. Then again, the league has always been and will always be superstar driven so we have to hope that Tatum and Brown at least play Durant and Irving to a draw. PS is there any chance that Kyrie leaves his Four Seasons (I'm assuming Brooklyn is staying there) hotel suite for anything but practice these next few days? Haha he will be booed non-stop no matter where he shows up around the city this week.
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