Boston, MA
It’s not that the Celtics squandered a chance to win an NBA title, it’s how they did it that’s become the real concern for Game 5 – The Boston Globe
It’s not that coach Joe Mazzulla planned for this type of effort and performance, but it happened. The Mavericks were the more desperate team. Rookie center Dereck Lively hit his first career 3-pointer during an early Dallas run. Derrick White countered with an airball on a 3.
Nobody played well. The Celtics were punished on the boards. They couldn’t hit threes and they couldn’t hit twos. Now they return to Boston with a 3-1 edge in the series, but perhaps not the psychological edge because the Mavericks finally saw its bench produce while the duo of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic shredded a Boston defense that just wasn’t interested in guarding.
Both were able to drive to the basket with ease for layups and floaters. The Celtics perhaps believed the Mavericks were done, that they would lay down after trailing, 3-0, and on the brink of getting swept. Instead it was the Celtics who relented, reverting to their style of “playing with their food.”
The Celtics trailed by as many as 48 points in the third quarter, completely letting go of the rope and forcing Mazzulla to pull his starters with three-plus minutes left in the quarter. They needed to be benched. They were awful. Jayson Tatum missed layups or was stripped at the rim. Jaylen Brown looked two steps slow. Jrue Holiday missed a handful of layups.
White airballed another 3-pointer in the second half. And the Celtics faithful who traveled from Boston, snapped up the tickets on the secondary market and wanted to see history, actually witnessed one of the worst playoff losses in Celtics history. Only two previous Celtics teams lost by more points in the postseason.
What this loss does is create that slight doubt, that slight anxiety that maybe the Celtics have been figured out. The Mavericks played stifling defense in the fourth quarter of Game 3 but the Celtics made enough key buckets to hold on. On Friday, the Celtics couldn’t score in the paint and couldn’t hit even open threes.
Mazzulla was more complimentary of the Mavericks than critical of his own team, but he did think Dallas played harder. How in the world could the Celtics allow the Mavericks to play harder with so much on the line? Nobody had that answer.
“I mean, I don’t know, always in situations like this, it always goes back to us,” Mazzulla said. “But you have to give Dallas credit. They played well. They played really, really well. And that’s the reason why they’re in this, is because when they play like that. So I thought they just outplayed us. I don’t know. I thought Dallas played really [hard] — , because you have to give them credit. It’s not about us. It’s about our opponent and having respect for them.
“And you have to give them credit for how well they played, and that’s the most important thing. So it’s less about us and more about how they played. They played well. They played hard. We have to be more disciplined in how we defend and attack them.”
Adjustments will be necessary.
Mazzulla and his staff have two days to cool down Irving, make things tougher on Doncic, and limit the bench players who are now brimming with confidence.
The Celtics could have played one of their better games and still lost with the way Dallas performed, but they didn’t have a chance to find out because they didn’t offer their best.
Sweeps in the NBA Finals are extremely difficult. The last time an Eastern Conference team swept an NBA Finals series was 1989.
It’s not that the Celtics lost Game 4, it’s how they lost that is a concern. The Celtics still have the advantage. No team has come back from 0-3 and Boston is the better team, but they were so listless in Game 4 that they lost a considerable amount of momentum gained from such an impressive playoff run and winning the first three games of this series.
They’ll have to work hard to regain that and can’t just depend on being home to take this series.
“We learn from it. We take it. We don’t dismiss it,” guard Jaylen Brown said. “We’re going to learn from it. We’re going to see how and why, exactly where the game was won and lost. And then we take those experiences and then we come out and we play like our life depends on it. Because it does.”
The Larry O’Brien Trophy will be shipped to Boston for Game 5, and the Celtics have the precious opportunity to clinch in front of a title-hungry city. They’ll have to play with the ultimate passion, no arrogance and with all the sense of urgency.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.
Brockton’s Moyzilla food truck offers up Asian comfort food on the go
Moyzilla is a jewel of MA food trucks. Founded by Jon Moy — son of Brockton culinary royalty — it offers Asian comfort food from Brockton to Boston.
Looking for a new marketplace to shop at this spring? You’re in luck – Boston is home to one of the best public markets in the country, according to USA TODAY 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards.
The annual 10BEST awards highlight the best in travel, food and lifestyle, and winners are chosen by a public voting poll after being nominated by industry experts. In the 2026 food awards, highlighting the top food tours, food cruises, farmers markets and more from across the country, Boston Public Market ranked third in the best public market category.
Here’s what to know before you go to Boston’s top-ranked public market.
Why Boston Public Market ranked third
A year-round indoor marketplace in Downtown Boston, Boston Public Market celebrates the bounty New England has to offer with fresh groceries, prepared meals, crafts and specialty items from over 30 local artisans and food producers, with a focus on seasonal items.
Along with browsing through groceries and goods, guests are invited to join the public market for a variety of special events, including trivia, live music, magic shows and face painting.
Boston Public Market is located at 100 Hanover St. on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, directly above the Haymarket MBTA station. Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday or 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
What other markets made the list?
Here is USA TODAY’s full ranking of the top 10 public markets in the country:
- Reading Terminal Market – Philadelphia, PA
- Milwaukee Public Market – Milwaukee, WI
- Boston Public Market – Boston, MA
- Eastern Market – Detroit, MI
- West Side Market – Cleveland, OH
- Essex Market – New York City, NY
- Lancaster Central Market – Lancaster, PA
- Midtown Global Market – Minneapolis, MN
- Grand Central Market – Los Angeles, CA
- North Market Downtown – Columbus, OH
The Green Line B branch trains will not run between Kenmore and Boston College through April 30, according to the MBTA.
The nine-day outage will allow T officials to work on several infrastructure improvements and maintenance, the installation of Green Line Train Protection System (GLTPS) infrastructure, replacement of 130-year-old wooden overhead catenary wire “trough” near the Green Line portals and more.
The MBTA announced free, accessible shuttle buses between the two stops, Kenmore and Boston College during the outage. The buses will not stop at Griggs Street, Allston Street, and Packard’s Corner due to “accessibility issues,” T officials said.
During the weekend of April 25 and 26, the outage will extend through Copley, and shuttle buses will skip Griggs Street, Allston Street, and Packard’s Corner during the same weekend.
Throughout the shutdown all Green Line frequency will be reduced between Copley and Government center.
The MBTA urged riders to use the Orange Line at Back Bay during the outage. The agency also noted riders can transfer to Copley from Back Bay, an approximately five-minute walk.
The route 57 bus will also be free from April 22 through 24 and April 27 through 30 for alternate service between Kenmore and Packard’s Corner, the MBTA stated. During the April 25 and 26 weekend, the T noted the bus will not be a good alternate with not Green Line service at Kenmore.
During the shutdown, riders taking shuttle buses should budget extra travel time, the T said.
“For example, a rider travelling to Park Street from Boston College should budget at least an additional 10 minutes of travel in additional to their regular commute,” the MBTA stated.
More information is available on-site through transit ambassadors and T staff, virtually through T-Alerts or following the MBTA on X @MBTA, or via the mbta.com/GreenLine.
Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe combined for 59 points, and the Philadelphia 76ers looked like a completely different team against the Boston Celtics in Game 2.
And unlike Game 1, the Sixers’ defense also showed up, holding Boston to 43 second-half points and 39 percent shooting for the game in a 111-97 road win to tie this Eastern Conference first-round series at 1-1.
Edgecombe scored a team-high 30 points on 12-for-20 shooting, and Maxey added 29 points and nine assists. The Sixers’ backcourt duo combined to shoot 11-for-22 from 3-point range. The Sixers were 19-for-39 from 3 after going 4 of 23 from that distance in Game 1.
Boston was led by Jaylen Brown’s game-high 36 points, but Jayson Tatum was the only other Celtics player who scored in double figures with 19. Boston shot 13-for-50 from 3-point range.
Here are some takeaways with Game 3 set for Friday in Philadelphia.
Celtics offense falls flat
The Celtics knew to expect a different effort from the 76ers.
One adjustment from Philadelphia likely didn’t take Boston by surprise. After taking just 23 3-pointers in Game 1, the 76ers sought out more long balls in Game 2.
Maxey called his own number more often. Edgecombe was aggressive from the start. As a team, the 76ers played with more freedom, firing plenty of shots that they might have turned down in the series opener. Philadelphia made plenty of those looks while shooting 48.7 percent from behind the arc.
Still, the Celtics would have been all right if they had played their usual offensive game. Instead, their offense was their biggest issue. They shot just 39.3 percent on field goal attempts. They missed 37 of 50 3-point attempts. They committed an atypical 13 turnovers.
Trying to come back in the fourth quarter, they had too many empty offensive possessions. Jaylen Brown got blocked while trying to beat the shot clock buzzer and picked up an offensive foul while hitting Maxey in the face. Jayson Tatum missed a contested pull-up 3-pointer early in the shot clock on one possession and threw away a pass on another. Derrick White was left wide open in the left corner but couldn’t find the bottom of the net. The 76ers left the door open early in the fourth quarter by missing several shots, including a couple of layups, but the Celtics couldn’t fully capitalize. Eventually, Maxey sank a series of baskets to create more separation for Philadelphia, and the Celtics largely went away down the stretch. — Jay King, Celtics beat writer
Sixers bounce back in Boston
This is the way the 76ers have to play if they want to extend this series as far as possible.
Maxey and Edgecombe have to dominate their guard matchups, which is exactly what they did in Tuesday night’s Game 2. Paul George needs to be a deterrent to Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. He doesn’t have to eclipse them, because that would be difficult. But he does have to give them a bit of pause. Most of all, the 76ers have to play the focused brand of basketball they exhibited in Game 2 rather than the sloppy and slapstick kind of hoops they played in Game 1.
The Celtics are such a good team that the above equates to near-perfect basketball. But that’s the task the Sixers are facing, particularly without star center Joel Embiid. On Tuesday night, this was a team up to the task. They were focused. They executed on both ends of the floor. They got much better play from their role players. Maxey and Edgecombe were absolutely dominant.
Overall, on both ends of the floor, this is the best game the 76ers have played in months. And they got it at just the right time. Now we have a 1-1 series heading back to Philadelphia. — Tony Jones, Sixers beat writer
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