Celtics have more to do, but this playoff run is worth savoring originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
INDIANAPOLIS — The Boston Celtics are one win away from a trip to the NBA Finals. They’ve ripped off six consecutive postseason wins and are 11-2 overall in the playoffs. They’ve produced two signature postseason wins while building a 3-0 series lead over a feisty Pacers squad.
And yet the discussion around the team invariably reverts back to familiar themes: They’ve had an easy path. Their superstar hasn’t played like one enough. The season is a failure if they don’t raise Banner 18.
So leave it to Oshae Brissett to provide some much-needed levity after Boston’s tantalizing 18-point comeback in Game 3 on Saturday night in Indiana. Brissett noted how, in each of his past three seasons, he had an offseason vacation planned two months before the end of the regular season.
This year? Travel plans beyond June will just have to wait.
“I can’t even put it into words how fun it is, this run that we’re on right now,” said Brissett.
Maybe it’s because we’re in the Midwest, but the team’s afterglow Sunday left us thinking about Ferris Bueller and that last bit of advice we’re left with in the movie: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
The Celtics have produced two absurd postseason victories this round. First, Jaylen Brown rescued them from almost certain defeat in a Game 1 overtime triumph, then an illness-battling Jrue Holiday worked some wizardry in Indiana as part of a Game 3 win.
The Celtics are now 75-20 over 95 games since the NBA season tipped in late October. Ever since Brad Stevens constructed a so-called super team — despite what award voting might tell you — the expectation has been Banner 18 or bust.
Now, there’s undeniably a burden of expectation that comes with being a decorated franchise like the Celtics. But that doesn’t mean we can’t stop to savor some moments along the way.
The Pacers didn’t make the playoffs in any of Brissett’s three seasons here. He spent the start of the 2019-20 season with the Toronto…
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