The Celtics have suffered through many terrible seasons (and I'm sure that there will be plenty more of those in the future) in my lifetime but I have to be honest: I can't ever remember wanting a season to end as much as I needed this group to go away. Thankfully the Nets were there to help us as they blew out the Celts one last time: 123-109 tonight at the Barclays Center in Game 5 of their pointless first round playoff series which Brooklyn took four games to one. With that, Boston heads into the off-season with a boatload of questions that they'll need to figure out. Point guard Kemba Walker (knee) and center Robert Williams (ankle) were inactive for the second game in a row, couple that with All-Star Jaylen Brown's absence and you can understand why the C's had no shot in this game or in the series for that matter.
As always, the Nets were led by their big three: shooting guard James Harden had a triple-double with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists with two blocks and two steals; point guard Kyrie Irving added 25 points and power forward Kevin Durant notched 24 points and three blocks. Brooklyn also got solid contributions from small forward Joe Harris (10 points, 6 assists) and Boston native Bruce Brown put up 10 points, five rebounds and four steals off the bench in the win. For Boston, superstar Jayson Tatum's fourth season in the NBA ended with a team-high 32 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. Shooting guard Evan Fournier had 18 points and six rebounds, shooting guard Romeo Langford got a rare start and he made the most of it with 17 points, two blocks and two steals. Guard Marcus Smart added 14 points and seven rebounds and the forgotten man Jabari Parker put up 13 points off the bench for the Celts.
Boston hung around for longer than they should have as Brooklyn led 31-24 after the first quarter and 59-51 at halftime. The Celtics actually outscored the Nets 28-27 in the third quarter before they predictably collapsed in the fourth quarter (27-20) which allowed the home team to lead by as much as 22 points. Brooklyn advances to the second round where they'll meet Milwaukee which should be a way more competitive and interesting series. For Celts GM Danny Ainge (who should be on the hot seat but probably won't be), his summer starts right now as the C's have three pending free agents: Fournier, power forward Semi Ojeleye and center Luke Kornet. Of those three, I'd hope that Fournier is the only one that they are inclined to re-sign (assuming that they don't wildly overpay him). The scary part is that the Celtics are always so reluctant to make big moves. That's why Ainge and head coach Brad Stevens probably won't be fired this summer not that they are the sole reasons why this team underachieved so drastically. Tatum and Brown are obviously everything to Boston's hopefully much brighter days ahead. Other than them-as far as I'm concerned-they are all tradeable in the right deal.
The Celts head into the long break with so many issues surrounding them that it's hard to know just where to begin. A) They have to keep Tatum and Brown healthy and happy together; B) They need to surround those two with more talented guys all around them; C) They should get creative to sell the city to perspective free agents. This gentleman's sweep of a series proved yet again how far away they actually are from Brooklyn (who combined in the regular season and playoffs went 7-1 against them in 2020-21) not to mention Philadelphia and Milwaukee-and that's just in the Eastern Conference! I will always love the Celtics and cheer for them but there really was very little to enjoy in this doomed campaign: they endlessly battled Covid-19 with a bunch of guys, injuries to key players, the countless losses to awful teams and they had a bunch of younger players that did not seem to get better as they rotted away on the bench. Here is to some honest conversations in the Celtics' front office starting tomorrow that eventually lead to major changes-whatever that entails. That franchise is too rich in history (namely winning championships) and they have too many fans all around the world to accept another useless campaign like that.
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