The Spirits of Playoffs Past returned to TD Garden Sunday afternoon. They always do for Game 7.
Red Auerbach was there, digging into his jacket pocket for his victory cigar as the clock ticked off the final minute of the Boston Celtics 109-81 triumph over the Milwaukee Bucks, the defending NBA champion. Sitting in his customary spot mid-court about 15 rows up, Auerbach nodded his approval at just about every move Celtics coach Ime Udoka made during Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal.
John Havlicek and Sam Jones were right behind Red. They could’t stop raving about the shooting show Grant Williams was putting on — 27 points, 7 three-pointers. Hondo wondered if Sam would have banked treys off the glass had the three-point arc been in effect when they played together in the 1960s. As a team, the Celtics launched 55 three-point attempts and made 22, NBA records for a Game 7.
K.C. Jones, Larry Siegfried, and Dennis Johnson, super heroes on defense in their day, sat another row back. They loved the way Marcus Smart played in-your-shirt defense against the Bucks.
Tommy Heinsohn, loud as a Celtics player and coach, applauded the Celtics Sunday but still crowed to anyone within earshot that Game 7 of the 1957 NBA Championships against the St. Louis Hawks was the best Game 7 in Celtics history. The Celtics won, of course. They usually do.
We scribblers always mentioned ghosts in the rafters of the old Boston Garden when the Celtics escaped a tough game or series. Dead spots in the ancient parquet floor. Cold water in the visitors locker room. Rafter-rattling noise. Oppressive heat in the non-air conditioned barn. Opponents shots that caromed off the rim while Celtics shots swished through the net. Something like that often figured in those seat-squirming Celtics playoff victories.
But the 2022 Celtics did not require the assistance of the Spirits of Playoffs Past on Sunday. They rallied from a tepid start, warmed up just before the half, reached a boil in the third quarter and remained hot until the final buzzer.
They won because they played aggressive defense, challenging the great Giannis Antetokounmpo every time he touched the ball until the two-time NBA MVP was exhausted in the fourth quarter. They won because Marcus Smart played smart, unlike his flamboyant flameout in the waning moments of Game 5 cost the Celtics a victory and a 3-2 series lead. They won because when superstar Jayson Tatum picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter, Grant Williams took over and finished the game of his life.
They won because they are more than a one-man team. Yes, Tatum is the star of stars, the latest proof being his 46-point effort in the must-win Game 6, but Al Horford, the veteran big man, scored 30 in Game 4, and Williams, the third-year forward, came up with his 27-point gem on Sunday. They won because they played together, like a team that knows what it takes to win a Game 7 against the reigning champs.
And they won because they know Udoka, their rookie head coach, believes in them. He remained calm while they struggled early and had their back while critics howled in November and December.
So now it’s on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the 37th time in franchise history, starting Tuesday night in Miami. The top-seeded Heat are two-point favorites. They are rested. But they will have to be at their absolute best to beat these Celtics and their Spirits of Playoffs Past.
