00:00Game five last night inside TD Garden at the home of the reigning NBA champions and for a good majority of this year, the NBA championship favorites, the Celtics on the brink of elimination and a gentleman sweep without their best player losing Jason Tatum on Monday night in Madison Square Garden to a ruptured right Achilles tendon.
00:23The question, of course, DRS, how would the C's respond? Who would step up in the large, large void that Jason Tatum leaves behind? The answer, basically everybody. And the answer of the resolve is Boston keeping its season afloat with a dominant and impressive second half and overall performance against the New York Knicks.
00:46The series extended at least to a game six tomorrow night back inside the world's most famous arena. The Celtics win by 25, 127-102. The Celtics cover as a five-point home favorite, a total of 208 skies to the over.
01:04And again, let's start there, DRS. The Celtics were a five-point favorite. The oddsmakers expected Boston to keep its season alive and extend this set and its season. But I'm not sure we were expecting a 25-point route last night inside TD Garden without Jason Tatum.
01:24No, I wasn't expecting that here. But you did expect that you were going to get the heart of a champion from the Boston Celtics and they just weren't going to go out with a whimper and they didn't.
01:32And also, if you were just reading the line yesterday, because for me, I did think the Knicks would win this game outright and took the four and a half points.
01:38Same way I thought the Indiana Pacers would go in and still win that game, even though that line was telling you you better be getting after the Cavaliers in this game.
01:46They ended up winning outright. But the fact that the Boston Celtics smoked the Knicks and also the tough part for the Knicks was coming into the energy in the building to see what it was,
01:53because you knew you would get a kitchen sink game without Jason Tatum and they fought them all for the first half.
01:59Decompress in the halftime locker room. We're better our starting five versus them.
02:02Let's just go out and close out the situation. It was the complete opposite.
02:05A 32-17 third quarter in favor of Boston. A 36-26 fourth quarter in favor of Boston.
02:12They were knocking down three-point shots. They were playing with rhythm.
02:14And when did Wilt Chamberlain reincarnate into Luke Cornett's body? I don't know.
02:18The guy was the best shot blocker I've ever seen in my life.
02:21It's like the mid-1990s Shaquille O'Neal blocking everything, getting every rebound, finishing at the rim.
02:26It was pretty impressive to see. Hauser comes back bombing away with a couple three-point shots.
02:30It was a good night in Boston. It might not amount to a victory in the series for them,
02:35but you got to give them the respect they deserved last night.
02:38A 25-point win over the Knicks in a closeout situation without your best player.
02:42That's how you perform in big moments. That's how you know Joe Mazzoula has the ear of that basketball team.
