The first rounds of the NBA and NHL playoffs are here, and the Celtics and Bruins are off to an undefeated start. I did a brief recap of the Celtics game one performance in my last blog, but I’ll talk a little more about that performance as we recap the games from the past couple nights.
CELTICS LEAD HAWKS 2-0
Game one – Celtics win 112-99. For my one-sentence-summary in my last blog, I summed up this game by saying: “Jaylen Brown returned from his hand injury to put up 29 while Atlanta went 5–29 from three, allowing Boston to coast to a game one victory”. Now that I have a little more room to work with, I’ll add that the Celts were close to letting Atlanta back into the game. Well, close might be the wrong word. The Hawks cut it to 12 with 9:33 remaining, but Jaylen was quick to extend the lead and close out the game.
Game two – Hawks get beat 119-106. This was another confident win for Boston. Derrick White played like an all-star, going 11-16 from the field for 26 points and an added seven rebounds. Tatum was also more of a factor in this game, leading the team in scoring with 29 while Jaylen Brown had a quieter night with only 18.
Something that worries me after watching last year’s playoff run were the four turnovers each from Tatum and JB. Fun fact: Tatum had 100 turnovers over the course of last year’s playoffs. Let’s pray that doesn’t happen again, because if it doesn’t, the Celtics will win the Larry O.
BRUINS UP 1-0 ON PANTHERS
Game one – Bruins got the job done, beating Panthers 3-1. This game was on Monday, and on that morning head coach Jim Montgomery made a statement to the press saying that there was a sickness going around the locker room. This bug would keep captain Patrice Bergeron sidelined for the opening game, and while many people were skeptical of how the B’s would perform, it was like they never missed a beat.
Linus Ullmark was a brick wall as always, and while their goals weren’t the prettiest, the B’s got the job done the old fashion way. Marchand scored his 50th career playoff goal and snapped a 17 game scoring drought with a hockey coach’s dream shot:
I can’t tell you how many times my high school coach preached shot quantity over quality. Just get shots on net and pray something good will happen. While that strategy fell short far too often in high school, rat faced Brad proved that it can work on the big stage. DeBrusk also had an old school goal on a wild rebound that sat unusually upon goaltender Alex Lyon’s pad:
Game two – Puck drop at 7:30 ET. Bergeron remains out for this game, but I don’t expect the Bruins to let one up at home. As for who will be starting in net, I’m predicting Swayman to take over tonight to give Ullmark some rest going into the away games that start up on Friday. If you aren’t the biggest hockey fan, it’s not too late! Tune in and hop on the bandwagon!