Game 7, simply as it should be
WASHINGTON — The Celtics were just seconds away from the Eastern Conference finals, just one possession away. But were they really? Is there any god in the heaven that sits above the rim that was going to let this series end in fewer than seven games?
Call it fate or poetic justice or simply the fact that the Celts and Wizards have traded wins since the regular season and now stand at a cumulative 5-5.
Anything less than a Game 7 would be unfair to both clubs, though certainly the Celtics would have found a way to live with the heartache of victory if you twisted their arm.
“Yeah, I mean, both teams just play really hard,” said Al Horford after the 92-91 loss, summing up the case for the two sides.
John Wall’s 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left made it happen.
“It’s got to go seven,” said Bradley Beal after scoring half of Washington’s 26 fourth-quarter points.
“It’s only right,” said Wall. “I think the NBA world wanted to see it. I think both teams wanted to see it. It’s only right to get a Game 7 after all that went on this season.”
After all the bickering and shoving and now each side wearing black to a game just to prove that the joy of third grade never really leaves you, the C’s and Wiz will push their season’s chips to the middle of the parquet floor at 8 o’clock Monday night.
And Isaiah Thomas, who never met a spotlight he didn’t love, who smiles broadly and goes into a shooting motion when he opens the refrigerator and the light comes on, is very cool with this development.
“That’s where all the great players make their name,” said Thomas. “You’ve got to give it everything you’ve got. That’s, I guess, where legends are born. So we’re excited. I’m excited. We couldn’t take care of business tonight — an unbelievable shot by John Wall — but to have Game 7 back in Boston in the Garden . . . I mean, if you had said that back in October that we’d be in Game 7 in the second round, a lot of people probably wouldn’t even believe that. So we’re excited.
“I mean, it hurts right now because we just lost, but we have nothing to hold our heads down about. We’re going to take a few days to figure out our adjustments and then win Game 7.”
Wizards coach Scott Brooks isn’t about to concede that thought, but does believe this series had seven games written all over it.
“Yes, I think absolutely,” he said. “We play each other during the regular season, we split the series 2-2. It seems like it was meant to be.
“Hopefully we will play better than we played the last game there,” referring to the Celts’ 123-101 waxing of Washington on Wednesday. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for both teams to compete for 48 minutes. It’s great for the league. It’s going to be great for the fans. We’re all going to look forward to it.”
Just minutes after a game that had gone back and forth in the final minutes, both groups had turned their respective pages. Wall said he was going to enjoy it for the rest of the night, but he, too, was looking forward to a Game 7.
After losing at home in Game 6 of the second round in his previous two playoff appearances, he doesn’t yet know the feeling of a Game 7. But Brooks does, and he’s sure his guys have imagined it.
“It’s great,” he said. “You always talk about it. The two best words in playoffs are Game 7. You get an opportunity to play a Game 7. Every player on our team, as a kid, you dream about playing a Game 7.
“And those are the places you dream about,” Brooks said with a nod toward the Garden. “I dreamed about playing in the Spectrum. That was my favorite team growing up. I’m sure all the guys have their favorite teams, and you always get an opportunity to make that last shot when you’re a kid. All of these guys get this opportunity to be a part of a Game 7. It doesn’t happen often. I don’t even know if there has been a Game 7 in these playoffs (Jazz over Clippers in seven in the first round). But it’s a great opportunity for us to go to a tough building. And our guys are confident. We’ve had three cracks at it there, and one game came down to a last-second shot and we missed or we would have won that game.”
Thomas is looking forward to the experience.
“I’ve never been in a Game 7, so I don’t know what it’s like,” he said. “When it comes to the playoffs, there’s a lot more pressure. It’s definitely mental, so, I mean, the stronger team mentally I think is going to win. And the team that’s more poised in those certain situations is going to come out on top, and hopefully that’s us on Monday.”
It speaks well for the Celtics that they weren’t dwelling on their missed opportunity here.
“Sure, we’re hurtin’ that we lost tonight,” said Thomas. “We feel like we should have won, but, like I keep saying, you’ve got to tip your hat off to those guys and John Wall for making a hell of a shot.
“But Game 7 in Boston, we wouldn’t want it no other way, I mean, other than winning tonight. A Game 7 in Boston, I think a lot of people would take that, and we will, as well.”
This one was ticketed for seven as the teams lined up for the jump ball for the series opener two weeks ago.