BOSTON-. Al Horford wanted to savor the moment. Celtics de Boston remains green.
The action had stopped and the Celtics’ victory was no longer in doubt. The Dominican turned toward a sideline, took a few steps, stopped and extended his arms above his head.
The already excited TD Garden crowd rose to its feet to applaud Horford and the Celtics. The mission was accomplished.
Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Boston beat the Los Angeles Lakers 113-98 on Wednesday. Cavaliers de Cleveland to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third consecutive year.
Horford added 22 points, including six of Boston’s 19 3-pointers, as well as 15 boards as the Celtics earned their third straight win in the series and won 4-1.
“We had a great opportunity at home to handle this, and I knew it was going to take more than just normal handling,” said Horford, who joined LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players 37 or older. to record a playoff game with 20 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in history.
“It’s something special, hard to achieve… This is another positive step towards the place we want to reach.”
Now they await the winner of the series between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. New York is ahead in the series 3-2.
This will be Jaylen Brown’s sixth consecutive appearance in the conference finals, and the fifth for Tatum, who considered this a test of the team’s culture.
“It just shows the character of this organization. “People take it for granted that we should be here,” she commented. “We are all in this together… We are doing something right.”
The Cavs were incredibly depleted by injuries, without star Donovan Mitchell (calf), center Jarrett Allen (ribs) and backup Caris LeVert (knee).
Cleveland stayed close on the scoreboard in the first three quarters and led 88-85 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Boston then went on a 13-2 run to regain the lead 101-87 with 6:44 left.
Evan Mobley scored a career-high 33 points and seven boards, Marcus Morris Sr. added five triples and 25 points.
Cleveland now enters a summer of uncertainty due to the future of Mitchell and coach JB Bickerstaff,
Mitchell was essential for the Cavs in his second postseason with the team. He was considered for the fifth time in the All-Star Game in the regular season and averaged 29.6 points in the playoffs, but missed the last two games due to injury.
Mitchell is eligible to sign a contract extension, but has given no signs that he wants to stay or leave Cleveland.
Source: AP
