Boston Celtics

Boston buried Milwaukee under an avalanche of threes to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fourth time in six years.

Malik Fitts is a show in and of himself on the bench for Boston. He’s great for “the vibes”, as the kids say. That group, including a banged up Kemba Walker, ran out of gas in the bubble. 9. Late in the game, it was time for a little fun. This first shot was a nice job by Pritchard to elevate up to the wing. Watch all the way to the end of the clip to see Pritchard yelling “That’s what I do!” at the Bucks: In all seriousness, Pritchard has an outstanding nose for the ball on the offensive glass: Bonus: Watch Robert Williams on the baseline as this ball is in the air and drops through the net. In the second half, Boston had just five turnovers, and one of those was an intentional shot-clock violation. With him struggling to get around screens and the big in drop coverage, this is easy money: The best way to keep that under control? 3. Jayson Tatum struggled through foul trouble for a lot of the second half. Williams went 7-for-18 from behind the arc, as he set an NBA record for three-point attempts in a Game 7.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics have finalized their injury reports for Game 7 on Sunday afternoon.

The Heat are the first seed in the Eastern Conference, so they will have home-court advantage over either team in the next round. The Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series, so they have been waiting for the winner of this season. The series between the Celtics and Bucks has been phenomenal as each team has won multiple games on the road, so no team has had the true home-court advantage.

Boston took down Milwaukee on Sunday and will play Miami in Game 1 on Tuesday.

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The power forward broke a record previously held by Steph Curry while Boston stifled Milwaukee's offense.

The Celtics finished first in the NBA in defensive rating and a fraction of a point behind Phoenix for the lead in net rating. “Miami is a really tough team,” Brown said. But there was a method to the madness. In January, the defense clicked. He made four of his 10 attempts in the second. "It’s tough to get in your own head when your entire team, 15 people, walk up to you and tell you to keep shooting,” said Williams. He finished 3-8 in the first half. And a 23-footer that didn’t have a shot. And a turnover. Antetokounmpo made six of his first nine shots, overpowering Celtics defenders on his way to the rim. They were 17-43 in a Game 6 win. In the final moments on Sunday, as Tatum and Brown headed to the bench, with the roar of more than 19,000 fans greeting them, it felt redeemed. The Bucks built a 10-point lead early.

Boston will be without homecourt advantage for the first time in the NBA's 2022 postseason.

Game 7 - Boston Celtics at Miami Heat - Sun., 5/29, 8:30 p.m., ESPN* Game 6 - Miami Heat at Boston Celtics - Fri., 5/27, 8:30 p.m., ESPN* Game 5 - Boston Celtics at Miami Heat - Wed., 5/25 , 8:30 p.m., ESPN* Game 3 - Miami Heat at Boston Celtics - Sat., 5/21, 8:30 p.m., ABC Game 2 - Boston Celtics at Miami Heat - Thu., 5/19, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Game 1 - Boston Celtics at Miami Heat - Tue., 5/17, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

The Celtics will play Game 1 of the East Finals against the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.

He was active in Game 7 for the first time since suffering a bone bruise (Ime Udoka did not play him). A few more days of rest should give him a chance to contribute in this series and bring Boston’s starting five back to full strength for a tough matchup against Bam Adebayo. This time around, the entire group has matured and put together what was one of the best second halves of the season in regular season history. This will be another heavyweight fight for Boston to get through in order to make their first trip back to the NBA Finals since 2010. *Game 7 — May 29, BOS @ MIA, 8:30 p.m. ET ( ESPN via fuboTV) *Game 5 — May 25, BOS @ MIA, 8:30 p.m. ET ( ESPN via fuboTV) Game 2 — May 19, BOS @ MIA, 8:30 p.m. ET ( ESPN via fuboTV)

They swept Kevin Durant and dominated Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Game 7. They are only halfway to their goal, but the Boston Celtics look like championship ...

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Here's everything you need to know about the Heat taking on the Celtics in the Eastern conference finals of the 2022 NBA playoffs.

The Heat made quick work of the Hawks in the first round before facing some resistance from the 76ers in the second round. The Celtics overcame a 3-2 deficit against the defending champions Bucks in the second round, eventually pulling away in Game 7 at home. This is a rematch of the 2020 conference finals from the Orlando bubble, which the Heat won 4-2.

The Boston Celtics have a terrific opportunity to win their first NBA championship since 2008 – and overtake the LA Lakers for the most titles.

The Celtics have been building for this moment for years with this group. Tatum will be the best offensive player on the court in the Miami series and he has shown growth in his game – the ability to take over as he did in Game 6 and the patience not to force offense as he did in Game 7 even with 23 points on just 14 shots. And Al Horford has been around, getting ready for his fourth conference finals. Tatum scored 46 points in Game 6, Horford 30 points in Game 4 and Williams 27 points in Game 7. “This is the group that I feel like is poised enough to get it done," Celtics star Jaylen Brown said. “I feel like everything we’ve overcome – all these battles and challenges and adversity that we’ve been through this season as well as the challenge that we just had overcoming the defending champs – I feel we are prepared.

Despite another impressive series from Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks were eliminated Sunday after a Game 7 loss to the Celtics, ...

"I don't think I shied away from the physicality of it," Antetokounmpo said. George Hill did not score a point in four of the five games he played. We didn't get it done, and he's a big part of that, but I'm beyond impressed by how he progressed through the series." "Obviously we weren't trying to make excuses," Antetokounmpo said. Aside from Antetokounmpo and Holiday, Pat Connaughton was the only other Bucks player who averaged double-digit scoring (10.3), although Bobby Portis averaged 9.9 points per game in the series. The Bucks failed to reach 100 points in three of the seven games (all losses) and were badly outshot from behind the 3-point line. Antetokounmpo started off hot Sunday, going 6-for-10 in the first half for 17 points before he appeared to get fatigued while struggling down the stretch. "Any of the games. And Antetokounmpo became the first player in league history to score 200 points, grab 100 rebounds and dish out 50 assists during a single series. In the end, however, Antetokounmpo couldn't do it all alone and the Bucks had too many empty performances from their role players. "I thought he was phenomenal -- his scoring, his attacking, his playmaking, his unselfishness. "He makes big shots and big plays on both ends, but especially offensively."

Marcus Smart sent out a tweet after the Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7.

- SHOULD THE BUCKS MAKE A TRADE? On Sunday afternoon, the Milwaukee Bucks lost Game 7 to the Boston Celtics, which officially ends their 2021-22 NBA season in the second-round. The matchup is a rematch of their 2020 Eastern Conference series when the Heat won and advanced to the NBA Finals in the bubble in Orlando, Florida. The first two games of the series between the Heat and Celtics will be played in Florida, because the Heat are the top seed in the Eastern Conference (the Celtics are the second seed).

The Miami Heat are looking to go to the NBA Finals for the sixth time in the past 11 years. To do so, they must get past the Boston Celtics.

Robinson then retired, but with the emergence of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs went on to win three more titles, in 2005, 2007 and 2014. The Lakers struggled this year as an aging LeBron couldn’t get to the playoffs with the oft-injured Anthony Davis and the erratic Russell Westbrook. However, being the Lakers, you’d expect them to lure another big-named free agent soon and get back on their path of greatness. With Robinson and Duncan, the team went on to win two NBA titles, in 1999 and 2003. After Magic Johnson’s abrupt retirement in 1991 because of his HIV diagnosis, the Lakers could have been in big trouble. However, during the 1996-97 season Robinson hurt his back, then broke his foot and missed most of the season, leaving the Spurs with the third-worst record in the league. Speaking of excellence across the decades, the Los Angeles Lakers embody that. For maintaining excellence across the decades, the Heat are No. 2. In 2004, they drafted Dwyane Wade, then signed Shaquille O’Neal the following season. Even so, they deserve to be considered in the Top 5 since 1990. The Warriors had some fun teams in the early 1990s, with Chris Mullen, Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond, but they failed to do anything meaningful. Enter Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Through great drafting, the Warriors have been one of the best teams over the past decade. According to statista.com, the median age in the United States is 38.1, so that means roughly half the country’s population wasn’t alive for 14 of their 17 championships.

How did the Celtics go from 11th in the East to the Eastern Conference Finals? Our Chris Forsberg reflects on a special squad that has coalesced into one of ...

As the Patriots try to find their footing in Year 3 AB (After Brady), the Celtics are positioned to steal the sports heart of this city this summer. But Heinsohn would have loved the spunk of this team and the way they’ve found themselves despite the adversity. The Celtics have an identity now and it starts on the defensive end. Al Horford, the 35-year-old big man on his second tour of duty in green, seems to be savoring every moment of this journey. Marcus Smart is the glue holding it all together, all while willing to let his body fall apart in the quest of a single defensive stop. The Celtics adopted the swagger and confidence of first-year coach Ime Udoka, who was finally able to get his team to buy fully into his desires on both ends of the court. Smart repeatedly got hit in the quad, kneed below the belt, and ate roughly 57 elbows in and around his head. Daniel Theis filled some of Time Lord’s minutes and held up well despite the challenges of defending Antetokounmpo. Tatum is a legitimate star now -- kicking down the door on the NBA’s perpetual Top 5 conversation -- and a player who can dominate a game without scoring. The Celtics were a nauseating blob of inconsistency, a team that complained too much and came unglued too often. Jayson Tatum spent the season making Carl Lewis-like leaps, culminating with his magnum opus: a 46-point outing in Game 6. Watching them fumble away a win in a national TV game against the lowly Knicks inside Madison Square Garden in early January -- a loss that dropped the team to three games under .500 and 11th place in the Eastern Conference -- had most fans checked out on this team.