By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
BOSTON – It’s officially baseball season in Boston after the New York Knicks eliminated the Boston Celtics on Friday night in a raucous Madison Square Garden beatdown of epic proportions. Not only were the defending NBA champion Celtics eliminated from the 2025 NBA Playoffs and their attempt to repeat as title holders was dashed, the Cs were embarrassed by a 119-81 final score. The Celtics trailed by 27 points at the half and the Knicks’ lead increased to a point where it was a 41-point debacle for the Bostonians.
While the Knicks’ players won, shook hands and acted as though they’d been there before, Knicks fans did not, as the 19,500 fans with tickets to Game 6 poured out to Seventh Avenue to join the thousands who watched the game in the square blocks surrounding Penn Station and MSG. How could the fans be blamed as they had to count back to 1999 when New York advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals vs Indiana (4-2) and then to the NBA Finals when they were whooped (4-1) by the San Antonio Spurs.
Of course, the Celtics had no fingers to point and no one to blame but themselves. Boston looked sharp in their series-clinching game against Orlando, outscoring the Magic by a 73-40 margin, including a 30-9 run to end the third quarter back on April 29th, seemingly a lifetime ago in these drawn-out but entertaining NBA Playoffs of 2025.
But, Boston’s downfall came in the opening two games of the best-of-seven series against the No. 3 seeded Knickerbockers. On both May 5 and 7th, the Celtics blew 20-point leads to go 0-2 in the Conference semifinal series, and in basic NBA folklore, you can blow one game in a best of seven, but you can’t cough-up two.
That old NBA adage caught up to the Celtics in Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, and the Boston loss vaults us all to summertime and baseball season.
Seasons change and so did I
You need not wonder why
You need not wonder why
There’s no time left for you
No time left for you – The Guess Who, composed by guitarist Randy Bachman and lead singer Burton Cummings
Yes, the seasons change fast in Boston, a town with its fans spoiled by 18 Celtics’ championship banners flying high in the rafters of TD Garden. With the Celtics, it’s either a championship or bust, and bust they did, especially after wingman JaysonTatum went down with a severe ruptured tendon in Game 4 of the Knicks series.
While the current iteration of the Celtics will always have the respect of being NBA Champions (2024), the Cs will also have to live with the fact they blew their chances for more than a single title.
The key games:
2023 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Miami Heat:
- Game 1 at TD Garden, May 17: Miami 123, Boston 116
- Game 2 at TD Garden, May 19: Miami 111, Boston 105
- Game 7 at TD Garden, May 29: Miami 103, Boston 84
2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals vs New York Knicks:
- Game 1 at TD Garden, May 5: NY Knicks 108, *Boston 105 (OT)
- Game 2 at TD Garden, May 7: NY Knicks 91, *Boston 90
- Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, May 16: **NY Knicks 119, Boston 81
* Boston led by 20 points
**Boston trailed by as many as 41 points
Those six games stand out as damn near inexcusable for a championship level team to put forth. In the most recent collapse, Boston went from being a defense-first team to a perimeter shooting, poor shooting fraction of what they could’ve been. The missed shots – many open, good looks – resulted in long rebounds and a transition game that favored New York.
Looking ahead, Boston has its hands tied with large, longterm contracts for its seven or eight rotation players. The Cs’ 2025-26 team salary is estimated at $223,928,825which will be the highest in the league. Big contracts with the dollars guaranteed for ‘25-26 are as follows:
- Tatum: $54,000,000+
- Brown: $53,000,000+
- Holiday: $32,000,000+
- Porzingis: $30,000,000+
- White: $28,000,000+
- Hauser: $10,000,000+
- Pritchard: $7,000,000+
- Horford: (Can sign a the NBA veteran minimum) – In 2025, it was $9,500,000
Reports surfaced Saturday that Jaylen Brown finished the season while playing through a partially torn right meniscus. Evaluations have yet to be made and surgery is a possibility.
There is not a lot of give and take with contracts that size and many with multi-year increases. NBA TV money will increase to drastically increase team salary next summer (July 2026). Team GM Brad Stevens will have to stick with the horse than brought him to the 2024 NBA title.
Switching gears, a bit: As Game 6 unfolded in New York, the (22-24) Red Sox were losing their fourth straight game, leaving even the most optimistic Boston fans feeling a bit unsettled heading into the Memorial Day to 4th of July stretch.
Should the Sox continue to falter, the hometown New England Patriots’ prognosis for the 2025 NFL season doesn’t look promising at all. The 0-for-4 in pro franchise forecast might make the Boston faithful seeking refuge in the September 1st TCU at North Carolina football game, also known as former Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s NCAA debut.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: With the Boston Bruins watching the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs from their North End condos, the Celtics sent packing to Cabo San Lucas, the Patriots staring a sub-.500 season ahead for sure, only the Red Sox might find their way to postseason play in 2025.
If they do, the Sox might be wearing new City Connect uniforms inspired by the famed Green Monster of Fenway Park (with a hint of the Pesky Pole yellow).
The new uniforms were unveiled as the Sox took the field against the Braves (loss, so they are 0-1 in the new duds) and will be worn on select home games throughout the season, including May 23. The original Nike City Connect yellow and blue uniforms will remain a core offering for the team, replacing the blue alternate jersey, and will continue to be worn during Patriots’ Day Weekend at Fenway Park.
The new jersey’s feature “Red Sox” in the Green Monster’s signature font across the chest in white, with an encircled “B” logo on the sleeve. Player numbers appear in yellow on the front – a nod to the Fisk and Pesky poles – and in white on the back. Inside the collar, “1912” is stitched onto a concrete, heather pattern, symbolizing the interior structure of the left field wall and the year Fenway Park opened. A replica of the Green Monster’s vintage ball, strike, and out indicator appears as a small graphic detail on the lower left of the jersey.
“The original Nike City Connect uniforms were a bold departure for the team, rooted in the spirit of the (Boston) Marathon, more than the club’s traditional identity,” said Troup Parkinson, Chief Marketing and Partnerships Officer for the Boston Red Sox. “This time, we started with a clear design thesis to create something lasting – drawn directly from Fenway Park itself. Every element has meaning and reflects a place that has defined Red Sox baseball for over a century.”
In doing so, the Sox chose to sway from their signature “BoSox font,” created by well known font author Lee Gordon.
TL’s Take: The new Sox City Connects are nice, and a great idea but I prefer the darker green of the Fenway scoreboard as opposed the lighter green of the ballpark, the dugouts and the Green Monster that is closer to the uniform color. Maybe we can get some paint out and fix ‘em up?
