The Boston Celtics, despite their myriad of injury and COVID-related struggles this season, are headed to the NBA playoffs. The team earned the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday night by taking down the Washington Wizards, 118-100, behind a monster outing from Jayson Tatum and a really nice night from Kemba Walker.
Now, things get exponentially harder than a one-off against Washington. Getting the 7-seed means that Boston has a first-round matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, which are healthy, boast all three of their All-Star players, and beat the Celtics all three times they squared off this season. It’s a tall task for Boston, even if the team was fully healthy, and as a result, Brad Stevens had a surprisingly candid response to the upcoming matchup.
Brad Stevens: "We'll do our best to get ready for Brooklyn. They're the best of the best. As a fan of the NBA, it's hard to see those guys losing. We're going to have to play great and play great together."
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 19, 2021
On one hand, it is a bit strange that Stevens said something like this, as it looks like a coach is throwing up a white flag before the games are even played, even if he admits that there’s a path forward that involves everything clicking for the Celtics. On the other, there is something refreshing about not getting the usual coachspeak and instead saying the extremely obvious thing — it is, indeed, hard to see Boston beating Brooklyn! — about the upcoming matchup.
Game 1 of Celtics-Nets will tip off at 8 p.m. EST on Saturday, May 22.
