The Boston Celtics secured their place in the Eastern Conference Semifinals after beating the Brooklyn Nets 116-112 in Game 4 of their best-of-seven series. Jayson Tatum was fantastic for Boston, finishing the win with 29 points, five assists and three rebounds to lead the way for the Celtics. In the end, Tatum’s efforts, along with the rest of the Celtics’ contributions, were enough to stem Kevin Durant’s monster game for the Nets as he ended in the loss with 39 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
Boston will now face off against the winner of the series between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls, who currently lead the Bucks by a 3-1 lead. There will be many issues the networks will face this off-season and it seems certain they will have to deal with these issues much sooner than anyone expected.
Here are three key takeaways from Game 4.
1. A historically close swing
Let’s take a look at the win margins in each of the four games in this sweep:
Game 1: Celtic’s from 1
Game 2: Celts up to 7
Game 3: Celts up to 6
Game 4: Celtics to 4
That’s 18 points in four games. Nic Claxton missed 18 free throws in the series. So small was the gap between these teams. A little more luck off the line, a few bounces for Brooklyn, and in another world, the Nets could be the team sweeping the Celtics right now.
None of this is meant to undermine the Celtics. If anything, sweeping this particular Nets team in four tight games is perhaps even more impressive than doing it in four blowouts. The overall benefit of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving is that your team should always be able to get a good shot in the half. It’s one of the best scoring duos in NBA history, and since crunch time is so dependent on halffield shot formation, to beat them four times in the clutch is insanely impressive.
But before you fire off your jokes about sweeping the nets, consider how close this series really came. The final 18-point lead makes it the third-closest four-game sweep in NBA history, according to the NBA ESPN Stats and Information. Only the 2017 Cavaliers (via the Pacers) and the 1975 Warriors (via the Bullets) were closer, and both held just a 16-point lead.
There is a chance, albeit a small one, that Boston will win the championship without ever having played a series that is that close in terms of points difference. They can’t sweep every round and they might not even make the finals. But what they did to a Nets team that was far better than they deserved considering their injuries was one of the more impressive performances we’ll see this postseason. The Celtics are on their way to something special, and the Nets could be back there in a year.
2. Too little, too Blake
Andre Drummond played about 60 minutes in this series. Brooklyn lost 25 points those minutes. They won the rest of the series by seven. Nic Claxton showed a significant improvement in defense but he shot 1 of 11 from the foul line. Otherwise he was fantastic but those missed free throws were the difference in the game. The only big man who proved reliable on both sides tonight was Blake Griffin.
The Nets barely used Griffin all season. He didn’t make his series debut until Game 3. He played 18 minutes into Game 4 and the Nets won those minutes by 10 points. He was also predictably gassed late in the fourth quarter and had to take a breather in the closing minutes. This is what happens when someone outside of your rotation becomes a key figure in the middle of a playoff series.
It’s hard not to wonder whether or not Griffin could have swung a game or two had he been introduced to the series earlier, or whether the Nets should have worked harder to get him back into the rotation in the regular season to integrate if they felt that needed in the playoffs. Griffin really struggled for most of the season. Brooklyn relied on him to make open 3s last year and he’s shooting just 26.2 percent from behind the arc this season. He’s not the same physically.
But when you’re relying on a core rotation made up entirely of players making a bare minimum of money, making the most of each of them is probably crucial. The Nets found Griffin too late and paid the price that series.
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3. With or without Tatum
Overall, Boston, surviving the final 2:38 without Jayson Tatum, doesn’t change the magnitude of their win. With or without him, they would advance to the second round. But along the road to a championship, there are always a few unseen moments that make a team think they can win a championship.
The Bucks had to win two games without Giannis Antetokounmpo a year ago. The 2000 Lakers famously won Game 4 of the 2000 Finals after Shaquille O’Neal was fouled because Kobe Bryant took it on. It’s not always an absence, but when teams win championships it’s rarely easy or clean. There are moments of doubt, moments when it seems like the car might slide off the road. Watching a 15-point lead crumble through Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving could have been one of those moments.
But Boston fought for victory and did so as a team. Tatum will be fine. He will do his part. But to win a championship, everyone has to do their part, and Boston’s role players have just gained a huge dose of confidence trying to do their part.