Tim Bontemps: …Boston still hasn't quite shaken all of its bad habits but still has enough talent to close out this series. The fourth quarter was a highlight reel of Boston's past issues -- poor offensive execution, lapses in concentration and overall head-scratching decision-making. But after giving up a 22-2 run that got Dallas back within a point, Boston was able to lock in defensively down the stretch. …
Well, I didn’t see the game so who am I to say? In real time as I followed it, I didn’t think it was the “Celtics” same old lapses. This is the Finals. D was staring at the impossible if they lost; they were at home; they had Kyrie Irving, Mr. Fourth Quarter. I thought at the time that what D did was what a Final Two does, leave it all out there and go out with a bang not a whimper.
Chris Herring: The Celtics are inevitable. It didn't matter that Porzingis wasn't there, because Xavier Tillman could hold his own in his minutes. It didn't matter that Kyrie Irvingfinally found his offense, because so did Jayson Tatum. It didn't matter that the Mavericks took their biggest lead of the series early in Game 3, because Boston had an otherworldly Jaylen Brown showing in the third quarter…
I agree with Herring.
Brian Windhorst: The Celtics are finally over the hump, and they have one hand on banner No. 18. They had to survive their late-game demons, maybe just to make it feel like they earned it. Boston has lost a handful of playoff games in this exact fashion over the past several years, and during that 20-2 run in the fourth quarter there was that old sick feeling. But the Celtics' stars all made a play or two -- and collectively, that was enough, mostly because they now have so many stars. And it is time to celebrate them, because they've earned it in true Celtics fashion.
Windy seconds Bontemps. Imo, this is not the “Celtics” of “the past several years.” I completely agree with Windy that “it is time to celebrate them.”
