The Brooklyn Nets moved ahead to Round 2 after defeating the Boston Celtics 123-109 Tuesday night June 1st in Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs.
It was a thrilling week of play in Brooklyn for the Nets as they pushed past the Celtics in an aggressive uptempo match and then advancing them to the Eastern Conference semifinal
“The feeling is one of excitement to move on and to face a great challenge in Milwaukee and to get prepared and to go do it again,” said Coach Steve Nash after Game 5. “We’re excited for the next step and the next challenge. James was great tonight.”
James Harden had a triple-double. According to the team he became the second Nets ever with a playoffs triple-double. He joined Jason Kidd. Harden led the Nets against the Celtics with 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
“He just did so many things at the time in New Jersey that us young guys looked at, so shoutout to J-Kidd,” Harden said about Kidd and his own success. “Every game is a little bit different. I just take what the defense gives me and I just play basketball. I try to play basketball the right way each possession.”
Brooklyn looked more like a championship team in Game 5 against the Celtics as they played aggressively. The Nets were ahead 31-24 at the end of first quarter, led 59-51 at halftime, kept the lead and were ahead 86-79 at the end of the third quarter.
Stevens Moving On Up Photo: Special to the NY Beacon The Nets made 51.2% of their shots from the field compared to the Celtics 43.5%. The Nets were also more successful with 3-pointers and made 46.9% percent of their shots, while the Celtics made 27.5% of their 3-point shots.
Following the elimination, the Boston Celtics tweeted the next day that Danny Ainge announced his retirement from his role as President of Basketball Operations and that Brad Stevens was promoted to the position. Ainge was hired in 2003 and traded for or Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in 2007 resulting in a world championship the following year. Stevens was the head coach the last eight years. His career coaching record was 354-282 making the playofffs seven times. Three times making it to eastern conference finals. No names have been mentioned as to who is being considered the next Celtics head coach.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
