Playing shorthanded once again, the season came to an end for the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night. Led by their big three that scored 104 points in a Game 4 win, the Brooklyn Nets got a triple double from James Harden and combined for another 83 points to close out the best of seven first round series 4-1 with a 123-109 win at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Boston didn’t lay down and came to play early in a win or go home, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the game. Brooklyn regained their footing and took the lead in this one for good on a Tyler Johnson three-pointer with 2:41 left in the first quarter to make it 22-21. The Nets led by seven after tbe opening 12 minutes, and held a 59-51 advantage at halftime.
The closest the Celtics could get was five when Romeo Langford opened the third quarter with a three-pointer. Brooklyn was just too much though, as they were all series long, opening it up to their biggest lead of the night of 22 points in the fourth quarter. Boston for the second straight game played without Kemba Walker and Robert Williams III due to injury.
Jayson Tatum did all he could do in a very productive five games, scoring another 32 points with nine rebounds, five assists, and two blocks in the loss. He averaged almost 31 points per game in the series (30.6). Evan Fournier had 18 points and six rebounds. Also getting into double figures was Langford with 17 points, Marcus Smart with 14, and Jabari Parker with 13. The Celtics finish a very disappointing season with a final record of 38-40. Harden really filled up the stat sheet with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, two blocks, and two steals as Brooklyn advances to play the Milwaukee Bucks in round two. Kyrie Irving had 25 points, and Durant had 24. The Nets are now 52-25 on the season. In the final two games of this round one, the trio of Harden, Irving, and Durant combined to score 187 of their teams 264 points.
