If the Celtics logically made big favorites for their own succession, they were eliminated much earlier than expected. Released from the conference semi-final against the Knicks (4-2), Joe Mazzulla's men had started the worst in the worst way with two backhands at home, and it ended with a big spanking: 119-81!
“Whenever you lose, it hurts, but even more in these conditions“, recognizes Jaylen Brown touched by the turn of events. “” But it was simply not our year. »»
What hurts Jaylen Brown is to miss the double, that no training has done since the Warriors. Like raptors, lakers, bucks or nuggets, the Celtics have failed to keep this title.
No double for the Celtics
“It's almost even harder to take,” continues Jaylen Brown. “We were trying to do something special, succeeding in a double. We had a great group. We played well all year round. So I think it's probably even worse. We just had unfortunate events, injuries. Personally, I had to face certain things, I held out, but it caught up with us at the end. »»
Beyond the loss of their title, the Celtics have mainly lost their leader, Jayson Tatum. Victim of a rupture of an Achilles tendon, the All-Star winger should be unavailable all next season. Before turning to the busy off -season that awaits the Celtics, Derrick White and Joe Mazzulla paid tribute to this group which was able to win 61 regular season victories.
“I told the guys in the locker room that it was an honor to have been able to train them”, Comments the Celtics technician. “For me, all champions have done great things in this league.”
“I loved playing with this group”, Complete Derrick White. “We form a group that has played at a very high level and outside the field, we had a lot of fun. It is a pride to be able to wear the Celtics jersey with these guys. »»
An eventful summer to come
Premature elimination therefore gives way to a summer full of questions. On the one hand, the “Front Office” will have to lighten its payroll and this may go through a transfer from Jrue Holiday or a departure from Al Horford, “Free Agent”, while on the other, there is the absence of Jayson Tatum that management will try to compensate without doing madness, while maintaining the team in its usual standards.
“” We will not relive this season and we will never have the same team again“, Regrets Derrick White. “” There have been ups and downs this season, but there we are a little slaughtered. »»
Faced with this complicated situation, Jaylen Brown still wishes to remain optimistic: ” The adventure is not over for me and I will come back stronger. I know that the atmosphere in Boston is a little gloomy with the injury of Jayson Tatum and our end of the season, but there is still a lot to do. I want the city to remain enthusiastic about that, it's not over yet. »»
| Shots | Rebound | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | Lf | Off | Def | Early | PD | COP | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Jayson Tatum | 72 | 36.4 | 45.2 | 34.3 | 81.4 | 0.7 | 8.0 | 8.7 | 6.0 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 26.8 |
| Jaylen Brown | 63 | 34.3 | 46.3 | 32.4 | 76.4 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 22.2 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 42 | 28.8 | 48.3 | 41.2 | 80.9 | 1.6 | 5.1 | 6.8 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 19.5 |
| DERRICK White | 76 | 33.9 | 44.2 | 38.4 | 83.9 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 16.4 |
| Payton Pritchard | 80 | 28.4 | 47.2 | 40.7 | 84.5 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 14.3 |
| Jrue Holiday | 62 | 30.6 | 44.3 | 35.3 | 90.9 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 11.1 |
| Al Horford | 60 | 27.6 | 42.3 | 36.3 | 89.5 | 1.3 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 9.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 71 | 21.7 | 45.1 | 41.6 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 8.5 |
| Luke Kornet | 73 | 18.6 | 66.8 | 0.0 | 69.1 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 6.0 |
| Neemias Queta | 62 | 13.9 | 65.0 | 0.0 | 75.4 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 5.0 |
| Baylor Scheierman | 31 | 12.4 | 35.5 | 31.7 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.6 |
| Torrey Craig | 17 | 11.8 | 35.6 | 29.0 | 62.5 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
| Miles Norris | 3 | 11.6 | 22.2 | 28.6 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2.3 |
| Drew Peterson | 25 | 7.4 | 41.5 | 39.4 | 77.8 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
| JD Davison | 16 | 5.8 | 35.3 | 22.2 | 71.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.1 |
| Jaden Springer | 26 | 5.4 | 35.3 | 31.6 | 71.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| Jordan Walsh | 52 | 7.8 | 36.1 | 27.3 | 58.3 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.6 |
| Xavier Tillman, Sr. | 33 | 7.0 | 24.5 | 15.6 | 75.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
