Celtics advance to 2024 NBA Eastern Conference Finals – NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog

Per the Boston Herald:

The Celtics withstood a spirited effort by an injury-ravaged Cavaliers squad Wednesday night to book their third straight trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

Boston won 113-98 at TD Garden to eliminate Cleveland in five games.

Jayson Tatum finished with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 10 rebounds, nine assists and four steals to lead the top-seeded Celtics, but he wasn’t the one hearing “MVP” chants as the game wound down.

That honor went to Al Horford, who posted a stat line never before seen in NBA postseason history.

Making his sixth consecutive start in place of the injured Kristaps Porzingis, the 37-year-old big man racked up 22 points, six 3-pointers, 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocks in 35 minutes.

Before Wednesday, no NBA player ever had recorded 20-plus points, 15-plus rebounds, three-plus blocks and five-plus made threes in a playoff game. Seven of Horford’s rebounds were on the offensive glass; Cleveland as a team had six offensive rebounds.

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