Boston, the best team in the regular season, made it through the first round and the Clippers were humiliated by Dallas on Wednesday during the NBA play-offs.
. Boston without shaking
The Boston Celtics, big favorites in the series, dominated Miami at home (118-84) to conclude their first round 4-1 and advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Celtics, the best NBA team of the regular season, crushed the Heat on Wednesday to erase the painful memory of their elimination in the Eastern Conference final by the Floridians last year.
“I wasn’t really worried about what happened last year,” said C’s coach Joe Mazzulla. “I liked the way we approached the series, without worrying about the adversary.”
“We showed game intentions, attention to detail, and a constant physical dimension.”
Jaylen Brown and Derrick White scored 25 points each and made the absence of Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis go unnoticed.
Miami struggled for its part, still without its star Jimmy Butler, injured since the play-offs and now on vacation, despite Bam Adebayo’s 23 points.
The historic Massachusetts franchise pulled away in the first quarter, winning 41-23, without ever letting up.
Boston will face either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Orlando Magic in the next round, trailing 3-2 in a balanced first round series.
. The Clippers sink at home
Winners in Dallas on Sunday, the Los Angeles Clippers sank at home against Dallas (123-93), suffering the largest defeat in the play-offs in their history.
Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks largely beat the Clippers on Wednesday in the NBA play-offs / RONALD MARTINEZ / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
In a quickly resigned Crypto.com arena which emptied during the fourth quarter, the Clippers never found the solution in defense against Luka Doncic (35 points, 10 assists) and his teammates.
Deprived of Kawhi Leonard (knee inflammation) for the second game in a row, the Angelenos were too imprecise (9 out of 35 at 25.7% from distance), seeing the gap create in the 2nd quarter without succeeding to react, like Paul George (15 points), and James Harden (7 points).
Now trailing 3-2, the Clippers are on the verge of elimination and will travel to Dallas on Friday to try to avoid further disillusionment in the play-offs, despite the line-up of stars assembled in recent seasons (Leonard, George, Harden, Russell Westbrook).
“We have to turn the page. We didn’t play our best game, we had collective problems, we have to be better in game 6 and we will be,” tried to reassure coach Tyronn Lue.
