Boston Celtics look like championship favorites after two NBA playoff rounds

BOSTON — They swept Kevin Durant and dominated Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Sport 7. They’re solely midway to their aim, however the Boston Celtics seem like championship favorites after two NBA playoff rounds.

No one is aware of higher than the Celtics how tough will probably be to outlast the Miami Warmth within the Japanese Convention finals, given their six-game exit from the Orlando bubble in 2020. However these Celtics are usually not these Celtics. They’re battle-tested, defensive-minded and explosive offensively. They’re all grown up.

“Though they’re younger,” mentioned first-year Celtics coach Ime Udoka, “they have been by some issues.”

Boston acquired 30 factors from Jaylen Brown to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in Sport 2 of their second-round set, 30 from Al Horford in Sport 4, 46 from Jayson Tatum in Sport 6 and 27 from Grant Williams in Sunday’s 109-81 Sport 7 win. Everybody from Marcus Good to Payton Pritchard contributed to the sequence victory.

Each inch the defending champions gave, the Celtics took. In that house, they discovered championship mettle.

The street to the convention finals has been treacherous. Boston’s sweep of the Brooklyn Nets required a fantastically executed buzzer beater in Sport 1 and 4 wins by a complete of 18 factors. It taught us that Tatum will be one of the best participant in a sequence towards one of many 10-15 biggest gamers in basketball historical past.

He was not higher than Antetokounmpo, however we discovered of their sequence, particularly Sport 7, that Boston has a rotation filled with gamers it may well belief to satisfy the largest second and a coach who prepares them for it. All felt misplaced within the aftermath of a blown 14-point, fourth-quarter lead in Sport 5, at the very least to these on the surface. Contained in the locker room, the Celtics nonetheless believed they had been the superior crew, and so they responded in sort.

When Boston wanted him most, Tatum outdueled Antetokounmpo, who Brown dubbed “one of the best participant on the earth” after the sequence. His 46 factors dealing with elimination on the street reverse the reigning Finals MVP was the stuff of greatness. The video games get solely larger from right here, and his superstardom is rising with them.

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“It will get more durable from the primary spherical to the second spherical and the second spherical to the third spherical,” Tatum mentioned after Sunday’s series-clinching 109-81 victory. “Milwaukee is a good crew. They’re extraordinarily well-coached. Most of these guys are champions. Clearly, they did it final yr, so it was not simple in any respect. You have to give them quite a lot of credit score and respect. They made it extraordinarily robust, and we needed to earn this.”

The Bucks dared Williams to beat them in Sport 7. He missed consecutive wide-open 3-pointers within the first quarter, admittedly feeling the strain, however to a person the Celtics reassured him: “Let it fly.” And did he ever, making seven of his 18 makes an attempt from lengthy distance. In that religion lies the distinction between this crew and Boston’s three convention finalists within the earlier 5 years. Everybody defends, and everybody scores.

Brown was a rookie when Isaiah Thomas led Boston to the convention finals in 2017, and Tatum was a rookie when the Hospital Celtics returned in 2018. Neither crew was made to beat LeBron James. Tatum and Brown had been barely consuming age when Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and the Warmth bullied them in 2020.

“That is the group I really feel like is poised sufficient to get it finished,” Brown mentioned. “I really feel like every little thing we have overcome, all of those battles and challenges and adversity that we have been by this season, in addition to the problem we simply had, overcoming the defending champs, I believe that we’re ready. I believe that we’re able to take that subsequent step, and we have simply acquired to exit and take it. I do know Miami is a crew that is ready for us. They are not going to again down. They are not going to surrender, and neither are we.”

Someplace on this season, by a 25-25 encore to final yr’s .500 file, the Celtics found their toughness. Possibly it was Udoka’s repeated public lashings for his or her lack of it. Or they had been simply bored with being common, when their pedigree was something however. Regardless of the purpose, all of them began pulling in the identical path on the similar time, turning their tug of conflict right into a protection on a string. So, after they wanted two must-win video games towards the Bucks, they flexed the muscle tissues they spent constructing all these months.

“We needed to reply,” Brown mentioned after the Sport 7 victory. “Two video games, our season was on the road. We did not need it to be over. We did not overcome all of the stuff that we did earlier within the season for this to be it.”

The offense adopted. Since January, the Celtics have been the league’s finest on each side of the ball, producing a +13.8 web ranking that will have been the very best ever had they finished it for the total season. Within the playoffs, they’ve overwhelmed the Nets and Bucks by 7.4 factors per 100 possessions, greater than twice the web ranking of every other crew however the Warmth, who’ve toppled two groups that folded within the face of adversity.

These Celtics simply took a punch from Antetokounmpo and delivered a knockout blow in return. Gone are Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward, whose hobbled our bodies the Warmth hunted of their 2020 sequence. Horford is again from his two-year sabbatical and rejuvenated from a season spent at Membership Med Oklahoma Metropolis. Derrick White is taking part in the position beforehand bombed by Brad Wanamaker, and Pritchard waits within the wings. Boston additionally expects to reintegrate Robert Williams III and drop Daniel Theis down the depth chart.

“Sufficient proof is our file,” Udoka mentioned. “The second half of the season, having one of the best general file, finest offense, finest protection. These issues aren’t a fluke in a 45-game span, so we needed to hold that over into the playoffs. A sweep towards Brooklyn and a hard-fought seven-game sequence will solely profit us.”

The Celtics have stuffed their holes with a mixture of expertise, resilience and chemistry. What separates them most from the model that misplaced to Miami two years in the past is the event of Tatum and Brown, who are actually the hunters. They totally anticipate Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry’s left hamstring to be their prey.

“I’ve grown within the sense of being extra ready. My physique has matured since my third season,” mentioned Tatum, evaluating his convention semifinals wins towards the defending champion Toronto Raptors in 2020 and this yr’s Bucks. “I am stronger. I maintain my physique higher, so I simply really feel extra ready for every sport.”

On the opposite facet of the bracket are the Golden State Warriors, whose invincibility has given strategy to vulnerability, and the Dallas Mavericks, who really feel lucky to be within the Western Convention finals. None of them has handed a check so difficult as Antetokounmpo’s Bucks. The Celtics have all of the solutions now.

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Ben Rohrbach is a employees author for Yahoo Sports activities. Have a tip? E mail him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or comply with him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach