The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors we’re locked into battle it out Thursday night at the TD Garden, in a do-or-die game 6 for the Celtics. I’ve been rooting for the Celtics ever since Giannis and the Bucks got knocked out, solely because I liked the fight the Celtics possessed. I was extremely disappointed to not see that “fight” anywhere yesterday within the Celtics. It’s like they didn’t know what the stakes were, or which game we were in. HELLO, THIS IS GAME 6! DO OR DIE GUYS!
The Celtics started off hot, scoring 10 unanswered points in the first 3 minutes of the game, jumping out to a 12-2 lead early on. I thought to myself “this is going exactly the way I thought it would, here we come game 7“. Well, I’m not exactly sure what happened next, but it had me saying a lot of “are you serious’?” and “what is going on?”.
The Warriors started to take over the game at the 7-minute mark of the first quarter. Clutch baskets by Steph Curry, and Draymond Green, and their amazing depth pieces had them finish the half with a 51-39 lead. The Celtics looked defeated on their bench, and their body language on the court looked as if they didn’t want to be there (except for Al Horford). Where was the fight you’d expect from a team that has a chance to win a championship?
It’s not like the Warriors had completely dominated this series. We had seen the Celtics win game handily and look like the superior team on the court at times, but last night, it was clear they didn’t possess the mental stamina that comes with making a championship run, and that’s okay! That comes with time, even LeBron went to 2 NBA Finals and lost before he captured his first championship. What bothers me is not that, but the fact that in their biggest game of the year, many of the Celtics players didn’t show up last night.
Robert Williams III and Al Horford both had great games, and Jaylen Brown was balling as usual, but basketball is a team sport, and you need all hands on deck if you want to win. I love Jayson Tatum as a player, I think he’s one of the most talented players in the league, and I know that wasn’t the real him last night. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was fatigue, but he simply wasn’t good enough last night. I’m sure he knows it and I don’t need to tell him, but what’s important now is how he spins this loss.
Does he take this personally, and work with the Celtic’s young core to get back here? I really hope so, because, in all honesty, the Celtics are one of the most entertaining teams to watch. I’d also like to give huge props to the Warriors for winning a championship we thought would go to any other team considering the past couple of years Golden State has had. This goes to prove that you can hit rock bottom but never count yourself out. I always like to say in my personal life “I may be down but I’m never out”.
If the Warriors stay healthy I can honestly see them going back to the championship the next two years, that’s how good they looked. I think they can win two more championships before Steph retires, and maybe they even push it to a seventh? Who knows, but let’s hope we get more of these amazing playoff series in the years to come.