Isaiah Thomas, Celtics Beat Wizards in Game 7, Will Face LeBron James, Cavaliers
May 16, 2017
The Boston Celtics are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2012 after beating the Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7 Monday night in TD Garden.
Isaiah Thomas led the team with 29 points and 12 assists, but Kelly Olynyk stole the show. Olynyk matched his season high with 26 points, and added five rebounds and four assists.
Naturally, Olynyk had social media buzzing:
Olynyk's outstanding contributions off the bench highlighted how little the Wizards got from their reserves. As a unit, Washington's bench scored five combined points—all of which were courtesy of Bojan Bogdanovic.
As a result, a great night from Bradley Beal was all for naught. Beal scored 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including 5-of-10 from three-point range.
After enjoying the biggest night of his NBA career in Washington's Game 6 win, John Wall followed up with a performance that may offer ammunition for his harshest critics.
Wall posted a double-double (18 points, 11 assists) but disappeared in the fourth quarter. He missed seven of his eight attempts from beyond the arc as well. Annie Apple, mother of New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple, was surprised at Wall fading down the stretch:
Beal played 46 minutes and Wall 44. Clearly, the Wizards simply ran out of gas in the fourth quarter.
The turning point of the game came as the Wizards held a 76-72 lead with a little over four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Boston closed the period on a 13-3 run to take an 85-79 advantage into the final frame.
The Celtics' momentum carried over to the fourth quarter. Their lead grew to double digits before Thomas connected on a three to make it a 13-point game, 94-81:
Many were quick to write off the Wizards at that point:
Washington continued to hang around, cutting the deficit to four points following a four-point play by Beal with 6:09 left in the game. But the Wizards couldn't get any closer, and a three-pointer from Olynyk with 3:26 remaining was a backbreaker that put Boston ahead by double digits again.
Boston's reward for Monday's win will be a date with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who haven't played a game since beating the Toronto Raptors May 7.
The Cavs are scoring 114.5 points per game, and LeBron James has been excellent in the playoffs, averaging 34.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.1 assists through eight games.
Cleveland rolled through the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds of last year's postseason before encountering some trouble against the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics are good enough that they should push the Cavs more than Toronto and the Indiana Pacers did already this year.
Still, Cleveland went 3-1 against Boston during the regular season, and the Celtics had no answer for James, who nearly averaged a triple-double (29.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 9.8 assists) in the four meetings.
The outcome of the conference finals could carry significant ramifications for the summer.
Should the Cavs lose, the front office may feel a minor retooling is necessary, the timing of which would coincide with the expiring contract of general manager David Griffin. If the Celtics fall, general manager Danny Ainge may finally go all in and part with the team's draft assets in order to acquire an All-Star talent such as Paul George or Jimmy Butler.