The Eastern Conference’s second seed was up for grabs this afternoon, as the Milwaukee Bucks sat their starters and lost a blowout to the Indiana Pacers. The opportunity was not lost on the Celtics, who rolled with their whole healthy rotation and — with an eye on the 76ers-Pistons game — played for the win.
And win they did, as the Celtics sent the Memphis Grizzlies packing in a handy 29-point blowout, 139-110, to officially claim the second seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. After languishing at a record of 18-21 midway through the season, the Celtics completed one of the most remarkable runs in franchise history to soar through the East standings and finish their regular season at 51-31.
Jayson Tatum closed out his dynamic season with an exclamation point, leading all scorers with 31 points and connecting on six three-pointers. Jaylen Brown added on 18 points of his own in just 23 minutes, and the Celtics comfortably fended off a Grizzlies team that rested most of their regular rotation. Memphis’ John Konchar racked up a triple-double with 17-points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
Tatum took command of the proceedings as play began, scoring 14 points in his first nine minutes of play to get the Celtics rolling. Locked into the two-seed in the West, the Grizzlies sat most of their regular rotation, but with as deep as the Memphis roster is, they still managed to put up a fight. Despite just 32% shooting from the field, the Grizzlies hung within single digits, exploiting some sloppy Celtic passing en route to five early steals. Boston entered the second quarter with a 32-25 lead.
Ahead by about three minutes of in-game time, the Sixers hit halftime in a dogfight against Detroit, clinging to just a two-point lead, 62-60, behind an 18-point outburst from guard Shake Milton. The Celtics, meanwhile, began to create some separation in their own second quarter, rattling off a 15-3 run to solidify their lead.
The run came despite sizable disparities in…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CelticsBlog – All Posts…