East finals trip on line in Boston
Isaiah Thomas used to imagine what it would be like to play in a Game 7 as he watched some of the NBA’s biggest names cement their legacies on the league’s biggest stage.
The Celtics’ All-Star guard will get his first chance to do the same Monday night when Boston hosts the Washington Wizards with a trip to the Eastern Conference finals at stake.
Though Thomas is eager for the opportunity, one thing he says he won’t be is nervous.
“I don’t believe in pressure,” Thomas said. “I’ve worked too hard to be scared of any type of pressure.”
Maybe not. But neither is a Washington team that pulled out a one-point win in Friday’s Game 6, becoming the first team to stave off elimination on its home floor this postseason. Teams had been 0-10 during the 2017 playoffs.
The Wizards now will be trying to be the first team in this matchup to win on the opponent’s home floor in 201617. All 10 meetings this season have been won by the home team.
“A lot of guys doubted us winning (Game 6) at home,” Washington point guard John Wall said. “The last two years we were in the playoffs, we lost Game 6 here and we just had a lot of heart.”
Monday’s winner earns an Eastern Conference finals matchup with the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been awaiting an opponent since sweeping Toronto on May 7.
For the Celtics, an opportunity to face the Cavs would validate the No. 1 seed that Boston earned over Cleveland in the final week of the regular season. It also would be the Celtics’ first trip to the conference finals since 2012, the last such run made by Boston’s since-departed Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
In Washington, the drought has been much longer. The Wizards haven’t been out of the second round since 1979, when the then-Bullets beat the Spurs to advance to the NBA Finals. That series was Washington’s last time in a Game 7.
No franchise has been in more Game 7s than the Celtics. They are 21-8 all time.
Elena Delle Donne scored 24 points in her Washington debut and the host Mystics did not trail in their season opener, beating the San Antonio Stars 89-74.
The 2015 MVP, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Chicago, played just 23 minutes as she dealt with foul trouble. Tayler Hill and Emma Meesseman, Washington’s top two scorers for last season’s 13-21 team, added 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Former Mystic Monique Currie had a career-high 31 points for San Antonio, which was without its top two scorers from last year and No. 1 overall draft pick Kelsey Plum because of injuries.
Other games: Rookie Kaela Davis, who won the national championship last month with the South Carolina team that eliminated Stanford in the Final Four, scored 20 points to help Dallas beat host Phoenix 68-58 in the season opener for both teams. Davis was 6-for-10 from the field and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line . ... Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and 10 rebounds and host Minnesota beat Chicago 70-61 . ... Jewell Loyd scored 27 points and Breanna Stewart made several key late plays to lead host Seattle over Indiana 87-82.