The hopes of the Boston Celtics attaining banner No. 18 came crashing down fairly quickly against the Golden State Warriors in Game 6. In a contest that was win or go home, the Celts kickstarted the night on a 14-2 run and there was a belief in the air that they could sustain this initial momentum.
The problem was the Warriors would storm back and lead at the end of the quarter by a hand. Basketball is a game of runs and these were astronomical runs by the dynastic Golden State squad.
A 25-8 run to end the first quarter was a start of an epic all-time collapse for these C’s.
Then between the end of the first and the beginning of the second was a 21-0 run by the Dubs, which marked the largest spurt allowed by a Finals team in over 50 years.
The wrong side of history for the Beantown boys.
Despite winning the third quarter by five and giving a sense of life into a packed TD Garden and millions of Boston Celtics fans watching around the world, they were not able to maintain any level of a completed comeback in the fourth quarter.
The final score makes it seem like this game was ever in question, but it really never got closer than nine points for the Celtics. The margin of error is way more minuscule when you are playing against a Warriors team that has the championship pedigree and overwhelming experience edge.
Here are 3 reasons why the Boston Celtics lost the NBA Finals Thursday night: