The Boston Celtics were just two wins shy of bringing home banner No. 18 to the TD Garden and completing a turnaround for the ages by celebrating the league’s ultimate glory.
Of course, they fell short of accomplishing such a feat, upsettingly on their home floor as the Golden State Warriors nabbed their fourth win of the series in Game 6, winning by a final score of 103-90 and, in turn, came away with their fourth championship in eight seasons.
The C’s came out of the gates swinging on Thursday night, outscoring the Dubs 14-2 through the first five minutes of action whilst shooting 5-of-7 from the field.
Then, at the 7:48 mark, Golden State seemingly flipped a switch, going on a 15-8 run to finish the quarter and, from then on out, kept their momentum going.
Led by the 2022 Finals MVP Stephen Curry and his incredible 34-point performance, the Warriors were an unbelievably challenging squad for Boston’s top-billed defensive unit to defend, especially from deep as they knocked down 19 of their 46 attempts.
On the flip side, unfortunately, the Celtics were not able to match this efficiency on their end, as they ended up knocking down 11 treys of their own while also letting up a putrid 22 turnovers (a fault that has haunted them all postseason).
In the end, despite their best efforts, the shamrocks just couldn’t compete with the seasoned Warriors and, as a result, ended their 2022 season as mere runner-ups.
That said, in Game 6, despite the initial blinding wave of disappointment, there certainly were a few positive aspects, particularly from an individual performance standpoint, that could be taken away from this close-out contest.
With this in mind, for the final time this season, we at HH present to you 1 stud and 1 dud from the C’s season-ending defeat on Thursday night: