The Clover Report: Week Twenty-Nine

It was an eventful week for the Celtics as it is common for this time of year. The Celtics had a 3-2 lead going into Game 6 against the Bucks and had a chance to close out the series. Unfortunately, the Bucks were in control for the entire game and won 97—86. Giannis Antetokoumpo finished with 31 points and 14 rebounds to force a Game 7. The Celtics struggled to score as Jayson Tatum was the only one who didn’t struggle to score as the team shot 37% from the floor. But they had to put that behind them and get ready for Game 7.

Game 7 was at home for the Celtics and that was very important going in as every home team in this series won every game. The same followed here as the Celtics dominated the Bucks the entire game and won 112—96. Both Terry Rozier and Al Horford led the team in scoring as they finished with 26 points each. Jayson Tatum added 20 points in the victory as well. It was a great win for the Celtics as they won a playoff round without Kyrie Irving and without Gordon Hayward. It proves that this team is more than their stars and it’s going to be scary when this team is fully healthy. The only bad thing that came out of this game for Boston was that Jaylen Brown left the game due to a hamstring injury.

After defeating the Bucks, the Celtics advanced to the 2nd round to take on their division rival in the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers steamrolled the Heat in the 1st round and were widely considered the favorite in this series. It didn’t help the Celtics’ cause that Jaylen Brown was still out due to that hamstring injury. But when the game started, it didn’t look like the Celtics missed the beat. The Celtics won going away 117—101 and pretty much played perfectly. Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford played fantastic as they combined for 83 points to lead the Celtics in the blow out. For the Celtics to win this series, Game 2 is going to be very important and hopefully Jaylen Brown will be back for it.

Steven Santoro (SVS_1993)