According to ESPN, Boston has emerged as a leading destination in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. No deal is on the table (that we know of), but the mere possibility might raise a few concerns.
Boston, MA
Where to buy Boston Celtics vs. Dallas Mavericks Game 5 NBA Finals tickets | Ticket prices, best deals, more
The Boston Celtics face the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 16, 2024, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Fans who want to purchase tickets to the games can do so via secondary ticket markets like StubHub, Vivid Seats, Ticketmaster and TicketSmarter.
Here’s a recent NBA story from the AP:
DALLAS (AP) — Kyrie Irving’s personal 13-game losing streak against the Celtics is over.
Now it’s back to the parquet floor in Boston to face his former team again, the Dallas Mavericks still alive in the NBA Finals after avoiding a sweep with a 122-84 blowout in Game 4 on Friday night.
The first two road games in this series weren’t Irving’s best, the two in Dallas quite a bit better despite a Game 3 loss that left the Mavs with a deficit no NBA team has overcome to win a playoff series.
Combine that with much more of an impact from the role players around Irving and co-star Luka Doncic, and maybe the constant booing of Irving from the jilted fans in Boston won’t ring quite as loudly in Game 5 on Monday night.
Plenty of green-clad Celtics fans were planning a celebration in Texas, but the loud cheers early when the game was close didn’t last long.
“You saw all those Celtics fans in there tonight. They travel in packs,” said Irving, who spent two seasons in Boston. “When we go to Boston, there’s going to be a bunch of them yelling a whole bunch of crazy stuff still, but I think we’ve been able to grow and face kind of this adversity head on.
“We’re figuring out each other in a crazy way during the highest stage of basketball,” Irving said. “So it’s a beautiful thing, but it also can be chaotic if you don’t know how to stay poised through it.”
If the Mavericks are to become just the 12th of 157 teams to force a Game 6 after falling behind 3-0 — and get the title series back to Dallas — the supporting cast for Irving and Doncic will have to keep it up.
Dereck Lively II connected on a 3-pointer for the first time in his career — exactly seven months after the the second of the two regular-season attempts from beyond the arc by the 7-foot-1 rookie center.
At one point in the second half, Lively had 12 rebounds, his final total, to 16 for Boston. No wonder Dallas outscored the Celtics 60-26 in the paint, where Lively scored the other eight of his 11 points.
Dante Exum hit two 3s and had another taken away when replay revealed he had stepped out of bounds. The buckets from deep were coming from so many Dallas players — 14 of 23, although those numbers were skewed a bit by the blowout — it didn’t matter that Doncic and Irving combined to go 1 of 14.
“It’s five people on the floor,” Doncic said. “So that’s huge for us. Everybody played with a lot of energy. That’s how we got to do it. We got to think the same way in Game 5 in Boston.”
Doncic scored 25 of his 29 points in the first half, while Irving had 10 of his 21 in the third quarter to help push a 26-point halftime lead to 38 before all starters were out of the game for good late in the third.
Lively’s games in the finals have somewhat mirrored those of Irving, his fellow Duke alum. The 20-year-old was mostly quiet in Boston. The two games in Dallas put him in the company of Magic Johnson as the only rookies with consecutive double-doubles in the NBA Finals.
He replaced starter Daniel Gafford earlier than in any of the previous finals games, and coach Jason Kidd said Lively just happened to be in the right spot — the right corner — when he hit the 3 to put Dallas ahead for good about three minutes later.
It’s unlikely Lively will start at this point — something he did early in his rookie season — but the crowd probably will notice when he heads to the scorer’s table for the first time back in Boston.
“If they leave me open in the corner, I’m going to get them up, for sure,” Lively said. “It’s just having that trust. Luka is going to give me the ball. As soon as I shot it, he kind of jumped for joy when it went in.”
Irving is still trying to find some joy in Boston, and he gets another chance this season.
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Boston is allowing outdoor drinking in two neighborhoods this summer while the city welcomes a wave of international visitors during the World Cup, Mayor Michelle Wu announced.
The social districts opened Friday and will run through July 31.
Boston public drinking zones
Patrons will be allowed to consume alcoholic beverages outdoors within designated areas at Union and Marshall streets in Downtown Boston’s Block Historic District, as well as on Temple Place in Downtown Crossing.
According to the city, the initiative along with the decision to extend last call until 3 a.m. for the World Cup “is creating vibrancy for patrons and expanding opportunities for Boston businesses during one of the region’s busiest summers in recent years.”
“As Boston welcomes people from around the world to gather and enjoy our city this summer, these new social districts will create even more opportunities to build community and have fun responsibly,” Wu said in a statement. “These districts help us open our streets in a safe environment for residents and visitors to enjoy themselves, ‘sip and stroll,’ and make lasting memories in our beautiful city.”
Last week, Gov. Maura Healey signed a new law that allowed for cities and towns to create designated areas for public drinking.
How drinking zones work
In order to participate, businesses within the designated zones must file a one-day amendment application with the Boston Licensing Board that states they wish to be included in the districts.
Businesses cannot sell alcohol for public consumption until they receive approval from the Licensing Board.
Hours for the Union-Marshall Street Social District will be 9 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. The Temple Place Social District will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Drinks sold for public consumption will be in clear plastic containers with a sticker or other label that shows where they were sold. Businesses cannot sell more than one 16-ounce alcoholic beverage for public consumption per customer in a single transaction.
Outside alcohol cannot be brought into businesses.
“We are grateful for this opportunity to activate our downtown, support businesses, and create a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere in two of Boston’s entertainment districts,” Corean Reynolds, director of nightlife economy, said in a statement. “Both residents and tourists can benefit from these Social Districts. After the summer, we look forward to continuing our work creating a nightlife infrastructure that works for everyone.”
Concern numero uno is obvious. Giannis is one of the handful of players capable of altering the championship picture by himself. Pairing him with Jayson Tatum would create an impressive combination of size, athleticism, versatility, and star power. The question is whether Brad Stevens and the Celtics can actually pull it off without creating a new set of problems for themselves.
Boston’s path to Giannis is narrower than it first appears. The Celtics would almost certainly need to move Jaylen Brown, either directly to Milwaukee or through a third team. Reports indicate Brown has little interest in joining the Bucks (in paraphrase: “Milwaukee?! Yuck!”), which complicates matters further. We start moving from a blockbuster trade to a three-team puzzle involving contracts, draft compensation, and competing agendas.
Even if Boston finds a way through that maze, there’s no guarantee the resulting team will succeed.
Giannis may be a better asset than Brown, but championships are not won by comparing players one-for-one. They’re won by building complete teams (case in point: YOUR WORLD CHAMPION NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS ).
Brown averaged more than 28 points per game last season while defending multiple positions. He can create his own offense, punish smaller defenders, and absorb primary scoring responsibilities when Tatum is unavailable (as Tatum was for most of last season, recovering from a torn Achilles). Replacing him with Giannis raises Boston’s ceiling, perhaps, but also changes the structure of the roster.
The Celtics have spent years building an ecosystem around two star wings. Remove one and the supporting cast suddenly becomes more important, which means Stevens would have many more decisions to make before the start of training camp.
What catches me up is, if the Bucks believed that Giannis has more great years ahead of him, would they so quickly offload him to a conference rival? Might he actually be a distressed asset?
Giannis will turn 32 this season. He has generally been durable over his career but has dealt with increasing lower-body issues (especially calves and knees) in recent years, leading to more missed time. To wit:
• 2022–23: 63 GP / 19 missed
• 2023–24: 73 GP / 9 missed
• 2024–25: 67 GP / 15 missed
• 2025–26: 36 GP / 46 missed
Wouldn’t that just be the worst if the Celts parted with Brown to get him, and then Giannis missed extended time due to injury? Like, the absolute worst? (Insert diabolical laughter.)
A healthy Tatum-Giannis pairing would present unique challenges for New York. The Knicks would need to defend relentless downhill pressure while also containing one of the league’s best bucket creators. But, given their depth, New York may be better equipped than most teams to handle it.
So if the Celtics’ pursuit of Giannis causes an initial flutter of worry, you can let that just drift on by. The scenario only noses toward Red Alert if Boston nabs him while somehow also acquiring a guard who makes up for what they’d lose with Brown’s departure.
But wait! This just in: Chris Haynes has pushed back on the idea that a Giannis Antetokounmpo-to-Boston deal is close. He writes that Boston does not appear to be a promising destination and suggested the situation could extend into July. Additionally, Marc Stein reported that the Celtics are frustrated by speculation involving Jaylen Brown, while Brian Windhorst said Brown has not been formally offered in a trade. So, to quote the great William Goldman (also a Knicks fan), “Nobody knows anything.”
It’s worth noting that the Miami Heat are also reportedly in the mix. We’ve heard that the lack of income tax is alluring to the Greek Freak. Plus Florida offers sunny, warm weather, which is not a defining feature of Wisconsin. In the end, though, joining Boston would allow Giannis to keep all his favorite green-themed items in his wardrobe, and shouldn’t looking good be a priority, too?
BOSTON — The Boston Bruins said Thursday they are retiring Patrice Bergeron’s No. 37 as part of a ceremony next season.
The date will be shared later, following the NHL schedule release that is expected next month.
Bergeron is set to join fellow 2011 Stanley Cup champion Zdeno Chara with his number in the rafters. Bergeron, when it happens, will be the 14th player to have his number retired by the storied franchise.
He spent his entire 19-year career in the league with the Bruins, playing 1,464 games counting the regular season and playoffs. That included the title run in 2011 and more trips to the final in ’13 and ’19.
“Patrice was the kind of rare, generational talent that every team wanted,” owner Jeremy Jacobs said in a statement. “He was a deftly skilled playmaker and the undeniable greatest defensive forward in the NHL’s history. But it was the leadership he provided on the ice and in the locker room that made him truly stand apart and an all-time legend of the Boston Bruins.”
Bergeron succeeded Chara as captain in 2020 and served three seasons in that role before retiring. He called this an honor that is difficult to put into words.
“When I arrived in Boston as an 18-year-old, I could never have imagined receiving this recognition one day,” Bergeron said. “I have always believed that any success I had was only possible because of the people around me. I was fortunate to play alongside incredible teammates, learn from outstanding coaches and staff and be supported by an organization that believed in me from the very beginning.”
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