Celtics Crumble In Game 7, Lose Eastern Conference Finals

With history in reach, the Celtics put together their worst offensive performance of the season.

The Boston Celtics fell to the Miami Heat 103-84, losing the Eastern Conference Finals four games to three. It’s Boston’s lowest point total of the season.

On the game’s opening possession, Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle, and from there, things only got worse. Boston found absolutely no connectivity on offense, settling for bad jump shots and getting sloppy with turnovers. While Miami played loose from the jump, the Celtics ended the 1st quarter with 15 points — their lowest single quarter total of the season — and finished the game shooting an abysmal 21.4% from three.

Just like it has all season long, their offensive struggles affected their defense. The C’s came out of the gate playing hard, but by the end of the night, everyone who saw the floor for Boston before garbage time finished with a negative +/- rating. They let practically everyone aside from Bam Adebayo settle in on the offensive end, and fell victim to strong performances from Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin.

A few Celtics, namely Derrick White, played solid games (aside from three point shooting), but the real story is their two stars folding with a chance to return to the NBA Finals. Tatum, clearly hampered by his ankle injury, could never find any rhythm on offense, and ended with just 14 points to pair with 11 rebounds. Jaylen Brown, who did the bulk of the scoring in the 1st quarter, finished the game with both 8 field goals and 8 turnovers.

After the way Game 6 ended, Boston appeared to have all the momentum heading into tonight. Now, everyone on this roster is in for a long offseason — one that may be filled with big changes. It’s an ugly end to a strong season, but in the end, the Boston Celtics’ inconsistencies finally caught up to them.