The Rush: Celtics cut down the Nets in Game 4 to complete the 1st round sweep
The Boston Celtics have ended the Brooklyn Nets’ roller coaster of a season, winning game 4: 116-112 to complete the first round sweep. The 76ers might be starting to sweat because they’ve lost two straight to the Raptors and the series is now 3-2. Behind Luka Doncic, the Mavericks beat the Jazz in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead. Ja Morant won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. PLUS: Lane Kiffin and Caleb Love find themselves in the midst of some very interesting college recruitment tactics.
Video Transcript
- Dallas has really come out here and understood they got a chance to knock them out. Start of this third, it's really been Luka who's done most of the damage.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- The 23-year-old basketball maestro from Slovenia.
JARED QUAY: The Brooklyn Nets' roller coaster of a season is over!
- Finished.
JARED QUAY: They got swept by the Boston Celtics, though I will say this is the most competitive sweep I've ever seen, if that's a thing. Game 4 was like all the other games, really close in the end. Kevin Durant was the most aggressive he's been all series.
And it looked like the Nets had a chance to take command when Jayson Tatum fouled out with two minutes and 45 seconds left in the fourth. But a crucial missed free throw by Durant sealed Brooklyn's fate. And the Celtics become the first team to advance to the second round.
- --with him. Marcus Smart will take it. Left hand limp. No-- Horford puts that back.
JARED QUAY: And the Nets, who started the season as betting favorites to win the title, now get to watch the NBA playoffs on the same TV channel we all do.
- Far away from the couch.
JARED QUAY: Uh-oh, 76ers fans. The Raptors have won another one.
- They're going to Pascal. They're going to their guy.
- Backs Maxey in deep, draws a crowd to Anunoby, shifts it outside. A 3. Got it!
JARED QUAY: And now the series is 3 to 2. And all I'm saying is, I'd be sweating bullets because if any coach is going to be the first to lose a series when up 3-0, it's gonna be Doc Rivers.
- Wow! OK.
JARED QUAY: If you didn't know, the NBA's Most Improved Award goes to the player who improves the most.
- No [BLEEP].
JARED QUAY: And this year, they decided the most improved guy was [BLOOP] Ja Morant.
- What?
JARED QUAY: He was already pretty good. And the third-year Grizzly guard did take it to another level. He beat out Spurs' Dejounte Murray and Cavaliers' Darius Garland. But apparently, Ja thinks someone else deserved the award because he left the trophy on the kitchen counter of teammate Desmond Bane's house. For his part, Bane didn't want anything to do with it.
- Man, what are you doing? This is a war. Man, take this back to [INAUDIBLE].
JARED QUAY: That's cool as hell, but I personally think LaMelo Ball should have been in the running. But they couldn't let him win. Otherwise, you would never hear the end of this from this guy.
- I'm undefeated, never lost.
JARED QUAY: College sports requires a lot of recruiting, which can lead to some, mmm, interesting situations. Take Ole Miss's head coach Lane Kiffin.
LANE KIFFIN: I only have one request after I drop you off.
- What's that?
LANE KIFFIN: You gotta transfer to The 'Sip.
- [INAUDIBLE].
JARED QUAY: Yep, that's Coach Kiffin chauffeuring prospects around in his Rolls Royce.
[HORN HONKING]
That's certainly one way to get someone to commit to your school. Another way is to hold your grandma hostage. A UNC fan posted a picture of his grandma in a cage and threatened to keep her there unless point guard Caleb Love announced he was coming back another year. I love the commitment. It seems that worked because Caleb tweeted, free that grandma, as he decided to return to UNC for another year.
What is going on? Ubering kids around, kidnapping your own grandma. I don't know, maybe this recruiting thing has gone too far. What is next? Saban gonna be like, I'll run for president if you come to my school? And next thing you know, he [? mess ?] [? around ?] and win.
Now we got Saban as a president. He don't want to be there, we don't want him there, but hey, at least you got another Alabama championship. I mean the world could use more of those, couldn't they?