The Celtics currently possess the NBA’s longest consecutive string of postseason appearances.
The Boston Celtics currently possess the NBA’s longest consecutive string of postseason appearances at a total of nine since the last time the Celtics were a lottery team. That happened at the end of the last era of Celtics contention when what was left of the “New Big Three” of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen were traded to the Brooklyn Nets with Jason Terry after Allen had decamped to the Miami Heat.
Somehow, after losing their title core for the haul then-team president Danny Ainge extracted from the Nets as well as their head coach Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers, a smart hire in Brad Stevens and good lottery luck had Boston out of the hunt for just one season.
Let’s take a look at where each season’s Celtics postseason ended.
Celtics great Bill Russell investigated by FBI in 1960s for civil rights activism https://t.co/pwZROYLosz
On this day former Celtics player and coach KC Jones resigned as head coach, and assistant Jimmy Rodgers stepped into the role.
On this day in Boston Celtics history, head coach and former player KC Jones resigned as coach unexpectedly on completion of the 1987-88 NBA season. Jones, an eight-time NBA champion with the team as a point guard, would win two more rings as head coach (one in 1984, the other in 1986), and would be designated coach of the NBA All-Star game for Boston four times between 1984 and 1987.
The University of San Francisco product coached the Celtics for five seasons beginning in 1983-84 and would amass a 308-102 regular-season record and a 65-37 playoff record, good for .751 and .637 winning percentages, respectively.
Jones would stay on with the team in an advisory role for one more season before joining the Seattle Supersonics as an assistant coach in the 1989-90 NBA season.
Today marks the four-year anniversary of the biggest blessing in disguise for the Thunder.
On this day in 2019, the Oklahoma City Thunder were sent home by the Portland Trail Blazers with a five-game first-round series loss.
Damian Lillard clinched the series win by hitting a 3-pointer on Paul George from near-midcourt for the game winner. The deep 3-pointer is one of the most memorable playoff moments in league history; Lillard self-proclaimed it as his favorite playoff moment, too.
The shot was a franchise-altering one for the Thunder. This was the final game that franchise icon Russell Westbrook played for OKC after 11 seasons with the Thunder.
Three months after the shot, the Thunder decided to start over by trading away Paul George to the LA Clippers and Westbrook to the Houston Rockets.
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Both trades gave the Thunder a historic number of draft picks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who will likely make his first All-NBA first team this season after averaging 31.4 points on 62.6 true-shooting percentage.
While it stung at the moment, Lillard’s shot did more good than harm for the Thunder as it prompted them to create one of the best starting points for a rebuild ever.
Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers have been stuck in mediocrity with no real direction four years later. Strangely enough, the Thunder (130-178) and Trail Blazers (137-173) have similar regular season records since the shot.
Was Dame’s shot a blessing in disguise for the Thunder?
Saturday marked the three-year anniversary of Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard sinking a deep three-point shot near the logo that sent the Oklahoma City Thunder home after a five-game First Round series of the 2019 NBA playoffs.
The shot would mark the third consecutive season where the Thunder failed to advance past the First Round of the playoffs. This disappointing ending left open the possibility of Thunder general manager Sam Presti to blow the team up and start all over — which is exactly what happened a little over two months later. In early July 2019, Presti traded Paul George to the LA Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and a historical haul of draft picks and Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul and multiple draft picks.
Both trades jumpstarted the Thunder rebuild — which is now on its third season — and the team has Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey to show for it so far as two pillars for the next great Thunder team.
Two years ago today, Damian Lillard sent the Thunder packing after this epic game winner over Paul George 😤 pic.twitter.com/6eryBMgpD2
On May 4, 2019, James Harden scored 41 points in Game 3 as the Rockets won an overtime thriller versus the two-time defending champions.
In Game 3 of the 2019 West semi-finals between the Rockets and two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, reigning MVP James Harden scored a team-high 41 points to go with nine rebounds and six assists as Houston won at Toyota Center, 126-121.
Harden’s total from the May 4, 2019 game (box score) included two critical shots over Andre Iguodala in the final minute of overtime to secure the victory. The Game 3 win brought life back to the series, with Harden’s Rockets cutting Golden State’s lead in half.
The Rockets needed every bit of Harden’s late heroics, since Kevin Durant led the Warriors with a game-high 46 points. Draymond Green had a triple-double with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Harden backed up his Game 3 performance with 38 points and 10 rebounds in the ensuing Game 4 as Houston tied the series. Rockets GM Daryl Morey recently referred to that Game 4 showing as his favorite Harden game over the MVP’s eight seasons to date in Houston.
The top-seeded Warriors ultimately won the series over the No. 4 Rockets in six games. Golden State then went on to capture its fifth consecutive Western Conference championship.
On this day in 2019, the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs, and in 1999, they signed guard Damon Jones.
On this date in 1999, the Boston Celtics signed guard Damon Jones to the first of two 10-day contracts as a late-season addition despite having no playoffs to play for.
The Galveston native was a career journeyman, undrafted out of Houston in 1997, and Boston the second of ten eventual stops for the shooter.
In his brief stay of just 13 games with the Celtics, Jones logged 5.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 45.5 % from 3-point range.
Unfortunately for the Texan, he only shot 38.7 % overall in an era that didn’t value the three quite the same; Jones would continue on to sign with the Golden State Warriors over the summer.
Former NBA guard Damon Jones is helping out on the #celtics summer league coaching staff
It is also the anniversary of five victories since the season of Boston’s last championship in 2007-08. The first was a 99-93 win over the New York Knicks in 2008 in one of Isiah Thomas’ last games as head coach.
Boston beat New York while resting the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, which likely didn’t help the legendary guard’s case to continue as coach of the Knicks.
“”You can’t always do what’s popular and what isn’t popular,” Thomas said via ESPN. “You just have to be patient. Last year keeping Doc Rivers wasn’t a popular decision, either.”
Point guard Rajon Rondo had 23 points and 10 rebounds and reserve guard Sam Cassell 22 points in the win.
The Celtics also defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in 2009 in a 100-98 nailbiter that saw Allen and Garnett rest, but Pierce hit the winning jumper and secured the victory with a 31-point performance.
We should have won the game,” 76ers guard Andre Iguodala said via the Associated Press. “They used a second unit for the majority of the game.”
Boston also beat the then-New Jersey Nets 94-82 in 2012 on this date behind a breakout performance by guard Avery Bradley that saw the Texas product score 11 of his 18 points in the third quarter to clinch the win.
“He gave us three big threes in that stretch to open the game, and on top of that he was playing defense and initiating a lot of energy off some of the turnovers we were getting. You couldn’t ask for anything better.”
In 2015, the Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors in a close one, Boston winning 95-93 as a late fall-away by forward Jae Crowder with just .08 seconds remaining handed the Celtics the victory.
The win set up Boston to face the then-league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. “Hey, to have a chance to compete against the very best in the league is a great opportunity,” head coach Brad Stevens said courtesy of the A.P. “It’s a big mountain, but it is a great opportunity.”
Finally, a year ago today the Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 84-74 in Game 1 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs in the East.
Point guard Kyrie Irving and forward Marcus Morris Sr. led a late rally to take a 1-0 series lead against the Pacers in an often-physical contest.
“”I just try to be aggressive on the ball, be in the right spots,” Irving said at the time via the A.P. “I just really want to be aggressive and really be the head of the snake.”
James Harden had a game-high 29 points and 10 assists as the Rockets opened the 2019 NBA playoffs with a 32-point home victory over Utah.
One year ago today, reigning league MVP James Harden tallied a game-high 29 points and 10 assists as the Houston Rockets opened the 2019 NBA playoffs with a 32-point home victory over the Utah Jazz.
The Rockets won the fourth quarter by a commanding 39-19 margin, leading to a 122-90 final in Game 1 of the first round (box score).
Eric Gordon scored 17 points on 50% shooting, and his defense helped limit Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell to a 7-of-18 night (38.9%) from the field. Meanwhile, big man Clint Capela added 16 points (61.5% FG) and 12 rebounds on the interior against All-Star center Rudy Gobert.
Here’s a look back at the Game 1 recap by Salman Ali, along with the highlights from Toyota Center.
The Rockets won the series in five games. Dating back to 2018, Houston has now defeated Utah by a 4-1 margin in back-to-back NBA playoffs.
In the 2019-20 season, the Jazz (41-23) are currently in the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, while the Rockets (40-24) are tied for the No. 5 spot. Should the 2019-20 campaign resume after its COVID-19 hiatus, a third consecutive meeting in the playoffs is very much a possibility.
Lillard responded to Thunder fan who tagged him in a quote tweet about how far behind Oklahoma City the Trail Blazers are in the standings.
The postseason picture isn’t looking particularly great for the Portland Trail Blazers right now.
After their loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, the Blazers are 26-33 overall, 15-24 in conference play and three games back of Memphis for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
Things couldn’t be more different for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They have won both of their games coming out of the All-Star break, picking up statement wins over the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs.
Oklahoma City also has a lock on the postseason. They’re currently in the No. 6 spot, but only a half-game behind the Jazz in fifth and a game and a half behind the Rockets for fourth.
The Thunder are also 10.5 games ahead of Portland, which The Uncontested Podcast pointed out on their Twitter feed.
And Oklahoma City fan still feeling a little petty had a message for the Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, making sure to tag him when he quoted the tweet.
That waving, of course, is in reference to the now-famous Lillard wave after he drilled the three at the buzzer to knock the Thunder out of the first round last year.
In fairness, there are probably a lot of fans in Oklahoma City who are still at least a little bit bitter about how last season ended.
But instead of dragging this particular Thunder fan, Lillard took the high road in his response:
“The fact that y’all can’t let this go just shows how bad it hurt your heart. You’re having a great season.”
The fact that y’all can’t let this go just shows how bad it hurt your heart 🤷🏽♂️. You’re having a great season 💯 https://t.co/ad0CPL2Jel
And Lillard is absolutely right, the Thunder are having a great season.
They’re 36-22 after beating Chicago 124-122 on Tuesday night. OKC has won four straight and a franchise-record nine games in a row on the road.
The Thunder return home on Thursday night to host the Sacramento Kings before turning around to face the Bucks in Minnesota on Friday.
As for Lillard and the Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City won’t see them the rest of the regular season as they played their final game against Portland on Jan. 18, a 119-106 win.
The Thunder split the four-game regular-season series with the Blazers 2-2.
