Photo by MC1 William Lovelady.
Sailors from the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) watch a basketball game between the Boston Celtics and the Minnesota Wolverines. (Photo courtesy of Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class William Lovelady via Wikimedia Commons)
NBA playoffs: the even longer shot
The Boston Celtics are looking to finish what they could not last year by winning the finals.
They fell short in 2022, losing to the Golden State Warriors in the finals. But first, they got to beat Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks.
The Celtics are led by Jayson Tatum who averages 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. The Celtics have the same starting five as last year, so there is no doubt that they can go back.
The Boston team finished the regular season with the second-best record in the NBA (number one being the Milwaukee Bucks). The Celtics put together amazing performances this season, and in fact beat the Bucks by 41 (140-99) in late March. If they keep stacking more performances like that one, no one is going to stop them.
The Atlanta Hawks are a team that snuck their way into the playoffs this year after beating the Miami Heat in the play-in game to land themselves the 7 seed. Led by Young, who averages 26 per game, the Hawks do not have a lot of believers: they are playing a team who just went to the finals, and Atlanta is an inexperienced team.
The only way the Hawks can pull this upset is if they can disrupt Tatum and Jaylen Brown: neither can be stopped, but Atlanta is hoping to minimize the bleeding.