Nineteen defending champions won as many games as the Boston Celtics did in this regular season. A dozen of them won another title. The Celtics could not. Not with the 3-1 hole they dug themselves in during their second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks and not without an injured Jayson Tatum.
The Celtics won Wednesday's Game 5 at home as a resilient bunch in the wake of Tatum's ruptured right Achilles tendon. The All-NBA forward suffered that injury at the end of Game 4, as Boston fell into its 3-1 hole. They did not have another rallying effort in them in New York on Friday, dropping Game 6, 119-81.