The Boston Celtics’ playoff run came to an end on Monday night when they fell to their Eastern Conference rivals in Game 7.
The Celtics had made a remarkable comeback from a 0-3 series deficit but could not complete it in front of their home crowd in Boston.
They lost 103-84 in a game that saw their star player Jayson Tatum suffer an ankle injury in the opening play.
Tatum played through the pain and recorded 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and one steal in 42 minutes on the court (he made 5/13 shots from the field and 1/4 from beyond the arc).
However, his fellow All-Star Jaylen Brown was unable to carry the team in his absence.
Brown had 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal and two blocks in 43 minutes.
But he struggled with his shooting, making only 8/23 shots from the field and 1/9 from three-point range (and turning over the ball eight times).
Brown was brutally honest in his postgame interview.
Brown: “We failed. I failed. We let the whole city down.”
Brown has been in the league for seven seasons and has reached the Conference Finals five times.
But he has only made it to the NBA Finals once (and has not won a championship since 2008).
The 26-year-old had a stellar regular season with averages of 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 49.1% from the field.
