The Boston Celtics completed a four-game sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, becoming the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs with a 116-112 victory Monday night.
Boston will wait for the winner of the series between Milwaukee and Chicago to advance to the conference semifinals. The defending champion Bucks hold a 3-1 lead in that series.
It was a very close four-point game, and it once again came down to the fourth quarter. Jayson Tatum lead with 29 points, and set the Celtics record for the most points scored in a four-game sweep.
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“Guys came in last few minutes, made big plays and finished out the game," Tatum said. "I couldn’t have been happier.”
Jaylen Brown put up 22 points. All tolled between all four games, the Celtics were only up by a total of 18 points, a historically close sweep.
“This year has been pretty special from the top to the bottom," Brown said. "As we move forward, we’re looking to maintain that. And just embracing who we are.”
Kevin Durant had 39 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, breaking free after the Celtics had defended him well in the first three games. But he couldn't get the Nets the win they needed to extend what instead goes down as a massive failure of a season.
Fans celebrate
There was no shortage of happy Celtics fans in the Boston metro after the game. And many said they didn't doubt that the C's would get the job done.
"All was expected, we got JT, JB in the house. They did what they had to do," Celtics fan Michael farra said. "We got this."
It didn’t matter that Monday was a school night. Some fans caught the game at a bar to feel the energy of the crowd since they didn’t make the trip to Brooklyn.
“My friends kicked me out of the house… let's got to a bar and watch the game… that made it so much better," fan Ray Newton said.
Celtics fans’ confidence in their team remains sky high, regardless of whether they play Chicago or Milwaukee.
More on the NBA Playoffs
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
