Almost exactly 11 months after the Boston Celtics raised the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the center of the parquet, they saw their back-to-back title hopes slip through their fingertips at Madison Square Garden – and so much sooner than anyone expected.
The game was lopsided at halftime; it was over well before the fourth quarter. The New York Knicks – who won the first two games of the second-round NBA Playoffs series by just four points total – were up by 27. By the third quarter, 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown had snagged his sixth foul and sat as the Mecca of Basketball played “Hit the road, Jack.”
The 119-81 blowout was a shock, even with Celtics star Jayson Tatum starting a long road to recovery on his right Achilles tendon. Celtics teams with Jaylen Brown have only failed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals once during his entire Boston career. The franchise made a seismic shift after the only first round exit during that stretch, in 2021. Danny Ainge, who served as the team’s general manager for 18 years, left the franchise entirely and was succeeded by then-head coach Brad Stevens.
This was going to be a summer of change for the Celtics, even when the dream of Banner 19 was still alive. Keeping Boston’s roster intact for the next year would incur at least a $238 million tax payment on top of a $226 million payroll. Ownership sold the team. The Collective Bargaining Agreement is too punishing on dynasties. Al Horford is 38 years old and an impending free agent.
One series pushed the arms of the clock from 10 p.m. to midnight. The Knicks shocked Boston at home, and the Celtics lost their generational star for the foreseeable future – in basketball terms.
The Game 5 Celtics showed guts and it paid off. They won by 25 points without Tatum, and they did it with a heroic team effort. In Game 6, they forced the offense early. They rushed everywhere and tallied 11 turnovers in one half – a lousier pace than in their worst turnover game of the regular season (20 against Atlanta).
The Celtics have raised 18 banners. While they’ve waited 55 years to be NBA champion repeaters, the Knicks have gone 25 without an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals.
So why does this feel so bad?
“This is the price you pay for going after something, and that’s just the way it goes,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the loss.
Endings are always hard, but in our heart of hearts, we hoped this one would be at worst, bittersweet. If 2025 was the last time we saw Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, or any other one of these guys in Celtics green – we thought there was a really good chance it would be on a duck boat in June.
It wasn’t meant to be. There’s a fascinating summer ahead. Most likely, we’ll look back on this spring like the old Tupac Shakur song:
“That’s just the way it is. Things will never be the same.”