The Boston Celtics fell to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday in the first game of their second-round series in the NBA playoffs.
Despite the loss, businesses near the TD Garden in Boston and C's fans remain optimistic.
While the Celtics couldn’t score enough to take Game 1 against the defending champs, they came in with the assist – to help boost sales at area bars and restaurants.
But it’s not the result the thousands of Celtics fans who attended the game had wished for. That’s why many turned to nearby bars and restaurants after the game for consolation and guilty pleasures.
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“Not going to lie, I didn't love it,” said Celtics fan Nick Mannetta
“Typically I go home and cry,” admitted Patrick Haggen.
But for those who walked over to Hurricane’s on Canal Street, it only took a few bites and a few sips before that Celtic spirit came soaring back.
“It's a win for us,” said Hurricane’s Restaurant Manager Nolan Hamilton. “The fact that we still get a couple more business days out of it.”
“I've got my buffalo mac-n-cheese, I’m from Boston - New Ring-land, like, c'mon, we don't lose here!” argued Matthew Austin.
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Hamilton noted how business has been picking up, especially after COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed in Boston.
“When all that dropped, that doubles, triples, quadruples our sales because we're getting people from out of state who are comfortable coming in and not worried about what they need to show or what restrictions we're doing,” he said. “So with that timing up with the playoffs right now it's kind of like the perfect storm of good business for us.”
“I'm sure they haven't seen business like this in a while. It's been a long, cold, hard winter," Haggen said. "So, we're all happy to come and support them. As long as they're pouring the beers, we're going to be drinking them.”
And while Celtics fans were not out to celebrate the game itself, the few Bucks fans who were in town were doing just that.
“We're going to have a couple of drinks tonight and we're going to celebrate it," said Milwaukee fan Jason Mackie. "But there's always Game 2.”
