“Two whatas please… oh, what’s that… and a root beeyair.” About an hour and a half before Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals tipped off, this was the scene inside a pizza store a couple blocks from North Station. The streets were a bit more rowdy than usual, a denser layer of smoke clouded the air, and all the pubs were flooded with people in Celtics jerseys. With a Game 7 in the Garden and a spot in the NBA Finals hanging in the balance, I could already tell the arena was going to be thunderous.
About 40 minutes prior to the tip, we got to our seats. (At some point in the 1st quarter, I realized that I could touch the overhanging ceiling if I stood on my toes.) I put on the “Game Face” t-shirt that they put on every seat in the building, and with 18 minutes to tipoff, the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers came onto the court met with severely loud boos. Just 30 seconds later, the beloved Celtics took the court to the wonderful tune of an early “Let’s go Celtics” chant; the Garden was buzzing.
With about 15 minutes before the jump, every seat in the arena was occupied. During the national anthem, I could see the entire stadium lined in perfectly neat sections with various colors of Celtics green; it was an electrifying scene. Here’s how the game itself unfolded...
1st Quarter
The intensity and noise level up until the first timeout was special. Nobody in the Garden was sitting down for those minutes, as deafening roars broke out for each made bucket for the Celts followed by (somehow) even louder chants of “defense” that poured down on LeBron James and the rest of the Cavs. The atmosphere was insane, and it was obvious the Celtics were matching that energy from the crowd with equally impressive intensity--they jumped out to an 11-4 start. Then, as if the crowd wasn’t lively enough, they showed Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Celtics legend Paul Pierce on the jumbotron—suffice to say the place went bonkers. When Al Horford got called for a foul at the 7:01 mark, Celtics fans practically jumped in waves of unison with outstretched arms. Jayson Tatum, the 20-year-old star out of St. Louis, kept the crowd on a high with a savvy two-handed flush with 4:32 left in the period, a play that came after he forced LeBron into a turnover. However, the Cavs amazingly withstood the the crowd noise and energy from the Celtics players, and with 3:50 remaining in the quarter, Lebron went coast-to-coast for an and-1 that gave Cleveland its first lead of the game. Nonetheless, when he committed a foul at the 1:06 mark and then airballed with 48.9 seconds left, he heard it from all 18,624 passionate fans. Then, with 32.1 seconds left, Al Horford, who had been eliminated from the playoffs by a LeBron-led team four previous times, hyped up the crowd by pumping his arms in the air after someone fouled him. It was apparent that he wanted this game a lot because losing to LeBron for a fifth time in a playoff series would be impressively awful.
END OF 1ST QUARTER: Celtics lead 26-18; LeBron had 12 points, Tatum had 9 and Horford had 8
2nd Quarter
In typical fashion, a lot of Boston fans were drinking, and some of them were intoxicated at this point. In my section, there was a group of four or five guys who were somewhat wasted by the time the 2nd quarter started. In any case, Al Horford continued to demand the ball in the post and snatch rebounds on defense. Then there was a stretch where both teams couldn’t hit a shot and were pushing the ball up the floor with terrific pace, and I forgot what the score was because of how the ball went back and forth like a game of ping-pong. Of course, several explitives were being tossed around in my section, and shortly thereafter, Dave Portnoy (whom Tucker Boynton met prior to the game) promptly showed up on the jumbotron much to the delight of a charged-up Celtics faithful. With 4:44 remaining in the half and LeBron at the free throw line, one of the drunk guys to my right had emerged as the leader of the group and shouted, “You can’t miss two, you’re the best ever, right?” after James missed his first. Unfortunately for him and everyone else in the arena, the Celtics were not able to build a cushion at the end of the half and instead went into the locker room with just a 4-point lead.
HALFTIME: Celtics lead 43-39; Lebron had 27, Jeff Green had 9, Horford had 14, Tatum had 9, Celtics shot 4/19 and the Cavs shot 2/17 on 3-pointers
3rd Quarter
Boston was unable to build any separation in the 3rd quarter, and at the 7:20 mark, they were shooting a dismal 37% from the field. The Cavs, meanwhile, were only shooting 39%. With the fans getting a bit tense, one guy about 15 feet to my left began a “LeBron sucks” chant to try to push the team on. This might have worked for a little bit because Jaylen Brown cut for a back-door dunk to get the crowd going once more, but then LeBron answered with a 3-pointer and passed to Jeff Green on the next possession for another 3 ball. After another missed shot from the Celtics, LeBron weaved his way in the lane and tossed up a pass to Tristan Thompson, who laid it in. Amongst the Celtics players, Terry Rozier was particularly aware of the sudden momentum shift and decided to take matters into his own hands: With 3:30 left in the quarter, the fearless guard caught an outlet pass on the sideline and dribbled into the middle of the court, eyeing LeBron James in transition. LeBron, who could tell that Rozier was going in for a dunk, timed his jump and met the guard at the rim, blocking the shot with authority. It was a play that LeBron had probably saved for this Game 7. In Game 2 of the series, Rozier was in transition on a similar play, and LeBron decided not to challenge his dunk. This time though, James denied him and in ultimate LeBron-seizing-the-magnitude-of-the-moment fashion, stared down Rozier and the rest of the Garden while remaining underneath his own basket as the action continued on the other end of the court. For the rest of the quarter, the Celtics continued to throw up bricks and eventually coughed up the lead. Going into what was potentially their last quarter of the season, the Celtics were shooting horrendously.
END OF 3RD QUARTER: Celtics losing 56-59; Lebron had 23, JEFF GREEN HAD 16, Rozier and Smart had 7 combined points, Celtics were shooting 34% overall and 4/26 on 3s
4th Quarter
The Celtics finally showed some life at the start of the final frame. Marcus Morris picked up LeBron full-court and forced him into a turnover to rejuvenate the crowd. On the following possession, Rozier came off of a screen and lobbed a passed in the area of a rolling Al Horford. Horford, who had three Cavs players around him, caught the ball and twisted the ball in for an improbable alley-oop dunk. In the next minutes, each team traded 3-point buckets until sharpshooter Kyle Korver came off of a screen for a curl and nailed an impossible three at 9:28 with two Celtics draped all over him. Of course, the Celtics failed to answer, as they kept missing and couldn’t tie it up despite all the chances to do so. With 6:55 remaining, LeBron worked off a pick going left and banked in a tough, contested fadeaway to put Cleveland up 71-67. On a shot that looks difficult, LeBron had mastered the art of that off-glass fadeaway to put the Cavs two possessions ahead. With that shot, Brad Stevens called a timeout, and I noticed that the Celtics had made 12 more FGA than the Cavs but had one fewer FG. Regardless of this embarrassing statistic, Celtics fans had reason to cheer because at back end of the timeout, Paul Pierce showed off his 2008 NBA Championship ring on the jumbotron, and there’s nothing like flashing a championship to ring-hungry Bostonians. Out of the timeout, the ball was swung to Jayson, (future Hall of Famer) Tatum, who took a dribble and UNLEASHED an incredibly disrespectful dunk on LeBron James. I was in shock. I was elated. The Garden went nuts. Whatever the outcome of the game would be, we got to see our youngster DESTROY LeBron James. On the next Celtics possession though, the kid showed he wasn’t done. He danced on the Cavs defense and drained a 3; the Garden went into pandemonium. Ripples upon ripples of shock waves thrashed the sections of the arena. Now, despite this amazing sequence of individual talent, the rest of the Celtics still couldn’t hit a shot. Al Horford, who was playing so well early on, was beginning to take bad shots and not follow for a rebound. Marcus Smart kept missing, Rozier kept missing, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Morris kept missing. Somehow though, we were only down 3 points with 3:47 left. After a questionable call against Tatum that sent LeBron to the line to make it a 5-point game, Marcus Morris missed the second of two foul shots, but Smart grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it out to Morris… who missed another 3. Following another offensive rebound and another missed 3, the Celtics found themselves down 7 points with 1:16 to go after George Hill made a layup. (With each missed shot from the Celtics, the drunk guys got more upset.) Finally, Brown missed another 3, LeBron muscled in a dagger and-1 with 1:04 remaining, and Morris missed again. The fans began to file out of the Garden with disappointment; at this point, we left as well, but not before I captured a video of one last “Let’s go Celtics” chant.
FINAL: Celtics lose 79-87; Lebron had 35 points on 12-24 shooting and played all 48 minutes, Celtics attempted 19 more shots than the Cavs but made just 34.1% of them (including 7/39 (17.9%) on 3s), Rozier and Smart combined to go 3-24 from the field with 8 points
Final Thoughts
This was a tremendous season for the Boston Celtics. Hayward went down in the first game of the season, and Kyrie went down in March, but the Celts scratched and clawed their way to the ECF and took LeBron to seven games. Though I know that Tatum will be a HOFer, that night belonged to LeBron James, one of the greatest to ever play the game. I got to witness him work his magic and control a game in such a hostile environment with inconsistent and mediocre teammates. When it mattered the most, he refused to lose and logged all 48 minutes. Considering how much he’s played over his career--especially in these last eight years because he’s gone to the Finals in each of those seasons--what he did that night was special. The Boston Celtics will be back and better than ever next season when they get Kyrie and Hayward back alongside fellow superstar, Jayson Tatum. Whatever craziness ensues this summer, the Celtics have a legitimate shot to win the 2019 NBA Championship, and Green-Teamers can take some solace in that.
Comments