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Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics are officially through to the second round of the NBA playoffs after demolishing the Miami Heat in Game 5, officially ending a first-round playoff series that was really over the second it was revealed that Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier would be unable to give it a go. Brown didn’t have his best series on the whole but played very well in Game 5, and the Celtics will now await the winner of the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Orlando Magic series to see who they will be playing in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Although the talent has always been there for the Celtics (maybe not quite to the level it’s at this year, but who’s counting), one of the major question marks about this team over the years has been its maturity, as the Celtics have consistently let golden opportunities slip away during postseasons past and have made things a great deal harder on themselves than they needed to be.
After the game on Wednesday, Brown reflected on that fact and how the Celtics are showing some improvement over previous seasons–but still have work to be done.
“We’re graduating — we haven’t graduated, yet…. something like that,” said Brown with a smile, via Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter (via Celtics on CLNS).
A maturing Celtics squad
As previously mentioned, the Celtics have not always handled prosperity well. For example, in last year’s first round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks, Boston went up 3-1 going home to TD Garden, much in the same way they did this year vs the Heat. While they raced out to a big lead, they ultimately took their foot off the gas down the stretch and were forced to go back and win the series in Atlanta, which may have impacted how fresh they were going forward in the playoffs.
While beating a Miami Heat team missing its two best playmakers isn’t necessarily cause for celebration for a Celtics team with legitimate championship aspirations, there is something to be said about them showing up for the challenge against a team that has been mentally tougher than them in their previous three postseason matchups over the last four years.
The big news for the Celtics now revolves around center Kristaps Porzingis, who suffered a calf injury in the Game 4 win in Miami and is now expected to miss likely the entirety of the second round vs either the Cavaliers or the Magic. Boston should in all likelihood dispatch either of those two teams with relative ease even if Porzingis is unable to go, but if they hope to accomplish their ultimate goal by winning banner number 18, they will need the big man back and healthy.
In any case, the amount of days the Celtics now have off depends on who wins Friday’s Game 6 between the Cavaliers and Magic. If it’s Cleveland, then Game 1 of the second round will begin on Sunday at 1:00 PM from Boston.
More must-reads:
- Timberwolves chew up Nuggets to force Game 7
- Cavaliers could be forced to choose between star guard pairing
- The 'Most career 40-point playoff games' quiz
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