A tough sweep

It might have been a sweep, but this was nowhere as easy as it will look in the history books.

Not all sweeps are easy. This one certainly wasn’t. We have to give credit to the Indiana Pacers. They played their assess off from start to finish of every game. I’ve been vocal about how the Pacers’ lack of experience would likely be a deciding factor in this series, and that was on full display in each of these four games.

Rick Carlisle’s team did a great job of hanging around. The issue was that they couldn’t close. Not at this stage of the postseason. Not against this Celtics team. Not with this much spotlight shining down on them.

Still. We have to give them credit. Indiana played with heart. They hustled. They clawed. Sometimes, though, that’s not enough. Especially when the team you’re fighting against is the most talented unit in the league. The Boston Celtics have too much on both sides of the ball.

This team is ready for a championship. They’re designed for it.

Boston Celtics 105 - 102 Indiana Pacers

🚑 Injury report (Boston): Kristaps Porzingis (Right Soleus Strain)

🚑 Injury report (Miami): Bennedict Mathurin (Right shoulder labral tear), Tyrese Haliburton (Left hamstring soreness) and Jalen Smith (Illness)

⭐ Jaylen Brown is the Eastern Conference finals MVP. In his four games against the Pacers, he averaged 29.8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. He shot 51.7% from the field. He hit 37% from the perimeter. Brown was the tone-setter for this Celtics team.

Bully drives like the one above have become a core part of Brown’s offense. He’s the orchestrator. Waving his hand around as the symphony of basketball excellence plays out around him. When it’s time for the contrabass, Brown is right there. Thuds. Bangs. Crashes. Whallops. His interior game is one of his most elite assets, especially when fighting through traffic.

Boston spreads the floor. They shoot threes. Lots and lots of threes. Brown is their antithesis. He shoots middies. He drives the lane. And he forces rotations to make life easier for his teammates. The Pacers struggled with him all series. Especially after his All-NBA snub, where he went out and dropped a 40-bomb on their domes.

It’s about time Brown got his flowers.

Before we move on, we’ve got to touch on his performance from last night. A 29-point, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block night. He pissed off Myles Turner. He was probably lucky not to get a 2nd technical after his foul on TJ McConnell. And found ways to punish an over-zealous defense looking to shut down the Celtics drive-and-kick offense.

This version of Brown isn’t spoken about enough. He’s been one of the better performers during the postseason — not just for the Celtics, but in the playoffs as a whole. But in typical fashion, he has flown under the radar.