The Eastern Conference Semifinals have been nothing short of a roller coaster for both sides, and for the viewers. Boston won the first two at home, thanks to homecourt advantage, and then proceeded to lose the next two on the road at Verizon Center. Boston came back home and took the series lead with another win on their home parquet. They were set up to take the series on the road and move on the the Eastern Conference Finals and face LeBron; all they needed was one measly win. The Celtics lost a tough Game 6 on Friday night thanks to a clutch, game-winning shot by John Wall in the final couple seconds of the game.
Game 7 is, obviously, all or nothing. The Celtics are at home for this one, which, again, obviously helps beyond tremendously. They’re coming off of a totally demoralizing loss in which they could have ended the series once and for all, but it’s not over yet. The fat lady has yet to sing. These two teams have played a total of ten games between the regular and postseason this year, and the home team has a record of 10-0. The road team between Boston and Washington haven’t won in a long while, and it will stay that way. Not to mention, the Wizards suffered twice as many road losses in the regular season as home losses.
Washington is giving up an average of 125 points per game in Boston, compared to only 94 PPG at home. Bradley Beal is putting up 24.3 PPG at home, while he’s scoring 19.7 in Boston this postseason. John Wall, honestly, puts up consistent numbers both at home and on the road; he’s always going to be a threat in any and every game at any point. As for Isaiah Thomas, he’s been an absolute animal in the Garden all season, especially in the postseason, putting up nearly 35 points every game compared to 19.7 in Washington. Avery Bradley scores a little over 20 per game at home compared to 13 on the road. Al Horford scores just over 18 per game on the Garden parquet as opposed to 15.7 at the Verizon Center. Obviously and rightfully so, homecourt advantage is absolutely huge between these two teams, as it goes for any playoff series in any sport.
While Wall was the Wizards’ savior in Game 6, Thomas has the edge heading into Game 7 as the league’s third leading scorer. IT had clutch threes and plays all around down the stretch in Game 6, but had a couple of costly turnovers mixed in, as well. On those TOs, Thomas didn’t split the defenders like he always does, which hurt him and the Celtics badly in the end. You could tell from the very start of Game 6 that Thomas was trying to do a little too much and was caught up in the competition and wasn’t thinking things through thoroughly.
Game 2 in Boston was the exact opposite story, though. You may remember Thomas’ historic 53 points in that win, nearly half of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime. He was doing everything on both ends, hitting clutch threes and playing some damn good defense for the little guy that he is. Wall, on the other hand, played some of his best ball in the first three quarters, but simply didn’t have it when Thomas did.
Speaking of Isaiah’s clutch heroics, I can totally see him putting up another incredible performance in the most important game of his career. Everybody knows what he can do on the big stage in the clutchest of clutch moments, so this is the perfect spot for him to shine. Everything he’s done in the fourth quarter this past season has just about led to this exact point: Game Seven.
Game 7 always, always, always comes down to which team shoots better. Each team knows the opponent’s offense like the back of their hand: they know their shooting tendencies, the individual players, how they run their certain plays, everything. Essentially, no more adjustments can be made because they’ve seen everything from the other team. Game 7 is all or nothing; it’s when you unload everything you’ve got to the very best of your ability. It’s not even about execution, it’s all about who shoots better. That being said, Boston is the better shooting team, especially at home. Both teams significantly struggle on the road, while both thrive at home. Boston is, overall, the better shooting team of the two, even moreso at The Garden.
While Boston is the better shooting team, Boston is the better team of the two in all categories. They have a much deeper and better bench, they have better ball movement, you name it. Now, that doesn’t mean that the Celtics will make more plays than Wall and Beal, especially down the stretch, but it does give the Cs the edge here in a life or death situation. Al Horford will be the key to Boston’s success. Horford has been absolutely phenomenal in these playoffs in all facets of his game. I fully expect him to have another outstanding game. Similar to IT, all that Horford has done in big moments with the Celtics has come down to this game. He’s proven that he can be the x-factor in a must-win game, like Thomas. Both Horford and Thomas need to play their best basketball, and I expect them to do just that.
Along with the needed, continued success of those two starters, Boston’s bench needs to show up and put their best foot forward, as well. After a completely abysmal Game 6 performance in which they shot 2-15 from the field, good for five points, the collective bench needs to put that behind them. This postseason, the Celtics’ bench has averaged just over 30 points per game at home, so they’re on track to recover from that Friday night performance, or the lack thereof. We all know that Boston’s bench is lightyears better than the Wizards’, and we will see just that on display come Monday night.
Like Thomas said postgame a couple of nights ago, “Legends are made in Game 7”. If either team wants to win, this is the time to do it. Everyone needs to step up and put every single game they’ve previously played behind them. Forget the past; this is probably the biggest and most important game of every player on both sides’ career. Both teams have suffered tough losses and shown their share of sucky performances, but those all need to be forgotten. It’s, essentially, a fresh start for both teams. This series was destined to go seven games because of the pure hatred between these teams. I said Celtics in 7 at the start of the series, and I’m sticking to that. It’s only logical to bet the home team in a Game 7. As long as the Celtics replicate what they did in Game 6 defensively and keep that offensive gameplan and actually make their open looks, they will advance to the ECF.
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