The Boston Celtics are going to the NBA Finals after a break of 12 years. The Celtics remained competitive for most of those years and have been flirting with the Finals since 2018, but the team just hasn’t been able to get over the hump. They met a better or more experienced team every year and kept losing to them in the Eastern Conference bracket.
In 2019, the Milwaukee Bucks dealt with them in the second round and caused changes across the team that saw the likes of Kemba Walker join the team. 2020 saw them make the Eastern Conference Finals again before the Miami Heat eliminated them. In 2021, the Brooklyn Nets beat them in the first round quite easily.
The Celtics have exacted revenge for their last three losing seasons over each of those teams in the 2022 playoffs. Not only that, they eliminated each team in the same round they had beaten Boston in years prior.
Revenge.
Boston eliminates the teams that beat them in the past three seasons to advance to the 2022 NBA Finals ☘️ pic.twitter.com/ntrl3oEKaz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 30, 2022
Brooklyn beat the Celtics in the 2021 first round just to lose in the first round to Boston the next season. Milwaukee eliminated the Celtics in the second round in 2019, but the Celtics delivered that same fate to the reigning champions this year. Finally, the Heat trounced Boston in the 2020 ECF, but Boston has gotten their revenge after dealing a heartbreaking loss to them this season in Game 7 in Miami.
There are no other recorded instances of a team getting the perfect revenge on the last three teams that eliminated them from the playoffs. There is no better way to silence the doubters. Well, there is actually one better way, and that is by winning it all in the Finals.
The Warriors could have faced the Celtics in the Finals in 2018, but LeBron James was still a factor Boston couldn’t deal with. Now that this matchup is finally happening, can the Celtics carry this momentum forward and become champions? We will have to see.
