And you were worried? C’mon. There’s a reason NBA teams are now 0-94 after falling behind, 3-0, in best-of-seven series and why only one of those 94, the 1951 Knicks, have even made it 3-3.
It’s pretty hard, that’s why. The fact the Bruins lost a deciding seventh game in this very building to enter the record books was never germane. The Bruins had no championship pedigree and they were playing shorthanded. The Celtics are a year removed from a title and still had the Big Three Plus one, in addition to a few other very useful guys.
It was a blissful evening at TD Garden, the game ending in the exact manner as Game 6 of the Cleveland series; that is to say, with the rival coach having conceded by pulling his star player and with the delirious crowd chanting — what else? — “Beat LA!’’ for the entire final two minutes.
The final was 96-84, and what a shameful liar that 12-point spread is. For the Celtics trailed for just 12 seconds in this game. They led by 11 after one, 13 at the half, 21 after three, and 24 with 11:45 to play. They were in complete control in the final 39 minutes or so.
Oh, and you had Nate Robinson in the Key Player of The Game pool, didn’t you?
Yup, Nate was a true Little Big Man last night. He had been dropped from the rotation in the regular season and had played 16 minutes, total, in the first five games of this series. But Doc Rivers liked what he saw of the 5-foot-9-inch guard in Orlando Wednesday amid that disappointing loss, and he told his coaching staff he was going to give Robinson a shot in what was only the most important game of the season, until the next game.
Rajon Rondo come out of the gate with a spectacular 12-point, three-assist first period. He was clearly on top of his game. And Nate Robinson, amazingly, trumped him.
