When it is not the year, it is not the year. And this It is not the year of the Boston Celtics. That became clear long ago. Between injuries, absences due to health protocols (more than any other team) and, this is the least circumstantial and the most worrying, the imbalances of a roster that Danny Ainge hasn’t been able to improve as of late, the Celtics have fallen in the East. It was first seen that, after being finalists for the Conference in the Miami bubble, they were not at the same level as the others. ogros on his side of the country: Sixers, Bucks, Nets. Then they alternated terrible moments with small calls to hope, but only the most optimistic spoke, in the second half of the course, of a team capable of changing faces and giving scares really in playoffs. Finally, Jaylen Brown was injured for the entire season, and the last lights went out at the Garden.
Now the reality is that the legendary Celtics are doomed tol play in. NEITHER the NBA itself expected to release a format with the two most historic franchises, Lakers and Celtics, stuck in this trance. But that’s what we’re going to do. The staging of the Celtics has been incontestable: with clear options to escape from that previous round, they lost by 22 against the Bulls and have since lost two straight games, basically direct duels, against the Heat at the Garden. Receiving 129 and 130 points in them. The balance is now 35-34. That’s what the Celtics are: basically a 50% winning team, nothing more. Except for a miracle now impossible to glimpse, cannon fodder when the first ones arrive dangerous curves at the crossroads.
Miami Heat, although it has been in the same fights, is something else. Now with 10 victories in 15 games, has secured (38-31 after the double against the Celtics) the ticket for the playoffs. And not only that: the finalist pressures the Hawks and Knicks in search of the fourth and fifth positions. If he escaped from the sixth, he would avoid a first round against the Nets or the Bucks. Spoelstra’s team looks dangerous really in playoffs despite having paid during this course the fatigue of the Florida bubble, with very little rest after losing the Finals against the Lakers.
If the Celtics (121-129 final) did not have Brown, the Heat are still without Oladipo (they hope to have him in the playoffs) and they were left at halftime without Jimmy Butler after a blow to the eye by Marcus Smart (32-19 with him, 6-12 without him this season). The Cetlics had the game within reach (56-62) when that stroke of luck came, but they wasted it miserably: 77-93 still in the third quarter, 84-105 with nine minutes remaining. Silly losses (more in the middle of the third quarter than in the entire first half), too many fouls that gave the Heat free throws and aberrant defensive disconnects that allowed easy shots to the exteriors (Dragic, Herro, Robinson …) or they left Adebayo paired with small defenders. The Heat made 59% of their shots and 53% of their 3s. Adebayo finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Robinson with 22 points, Dragic with 17, Herro with 24 and 11 rebounds, Nunn with 18 …
At the Garden some days they boo and others ask Tacko Fall on the track. Each one passes the drink as best they can. Ainge has not given depth to a team with a questionable bench and that lives off Tatum (this time 33 + 8 + 6), Kemba Walker (36 + 7 + 4) and, without Brown, the help of Fournier (20 + 4 + 8). Weak (an eternal song) in the center position, with few points and little hierarchy on the bench, a defensive plan that almost never works … no, it is not the year of some Celtics doomed to play in, And it seems inevitable now, to serious reflections after a very, very, very disappointing season in Boston. I insist: except for a miracle right now impossible to see.
The Hornets fall but will be in the play in
A very defining day in the East too got into the play in to the Hornets despite their loss to the Nuggtes (112-117). Celtics, Hornets, Pacers and Wizards are the ones that will debut in the Conference format, it remains to be seen in what positions because now Carolina’s are eighth but even with the Pacers and with only one game ahead of the Wizards. For the Nuggets it was a useful win: 45-24, still in contention for third place (one game away from the Clippers) but, above all, with the guaranteed quarter as a minimum. That is to say: safe field advantage in the first round.
The Hornets are a good team that has had a lot of injury problems. In a hot game, very even and with refereeing racket (James Borrego’s expulsion included), a +12 of the visitors already in the third quarter was compressed to 106-107 with less than two minutes to play. But the Nuggets saved their skin with important triples in the last quarter from Facundo Campazzo (8 points 6 assists, 3 steals) and another great game from Nikola Jokic (putting the tie to MVP: 30 + 11 + 6) and Michael Porter Jr (30 points, 6 rebounds, 6 triples). In the Hornets, 7 triples and 31 points from the explosive Devonte ‘Graham and a bad day for LaMelo Ball: 5 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 1/9 shooting, 5 losses.
The head of the East remains unsolved
The Sixers will be, if nothing strange happens, leaders of the East heading into the playoffs for the first time since 2001, when they played the Finals against the Lakers. But the possibility of mathematically sealing that place on this day escaped them in Indiana (103-94), in a game in which Joel Embiid was sick and ended Doc Rivers’ streak in eight straight wins. The Pacers fought very hard in the fourth quarter and with three wins in four games (33-36 now) they secured their presence in the play. In. As the season has gone, it is no small thing.
The Sixers, without doing much, were tied with 4:34 to go (92-92) but only made two Tobias Harris free throws from there. The Pacers escaped with nine points from Caris LeVert (he finished in 24 with 7 rebounds and 5 assists) in a game in which he arrived andhe ninth triple-double for Domantas Sabonis in a fantastic season (16 + 13 + 15). With pride, the Pacers held on to the game and closed it well at the end against an opponent in which Harris had 27 points and 5 rebounds and Ben Simmons, 20 + 8 + 7. But little else.
Bulls lose sight of play in
The Sixers’ pursuers also won. The Nets (now 45-24) beat the Bulls (29-40), who gave up their miraculous attempt in three straight wins and already have three games to go and 10th place and their last hope of play in. It has been a very disappointing final leg of the season for some Bulls That triggered their expectations with the arrival of Nikola Vucevic.
The Nets played without James Harden and they were left without Kyrie Irving by a punch to the face. Even so (107-115 final) they had very controlled the game (74-93) at the end of the third quarter, before Zach LaVine’s points (he finished with 41) took the lead to eleven points (91-102) with almost five minutes left to play and will force Steve Nash to make a final effort. Kevin Durant added 21 points and 8 assists in a good team game (Blake Griffin, Joe Harris, Bruce Brown, Nic Claxton, Jeff Green …) of some Nets that after losing four straight games now link two victories and are two games away from the Sixers and one ahead of the Bucks. For the Bulls, Vucevic was 5/18 shooting (12 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists) and Coby White had 16 points. Disappointing, very disappointing second half of the Illinois course.
The Bucks finally fulfilled the lackluster record against the Orlando Magic (114-102), a team that seeks its position in the draft (21-48) and that gives minutes to the Hampton, Cole Anthony … without the five senses placed in the game, those of Budenholzer allowed their rival to continue more or less alive until almost the end . TOhour at 44-25, they follow a Nets game in search of second place and the home court factor in a conference semifinal that would be tremendous (against the Sixers or Nets). Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists and Brook Lopez, Portis and DiVincenzo (19 points) put in work on a bad day shooting Middleton (3/15, 11 points) and Jrue Holiday (5/15, 15). ).
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