Boston Celtics ride Kelly Olynyk’s hot hand to the Eastern Conference Finals
Words I never thought I’d write: The Wizards couldn’t contain Kelly Olynyk and the Boston Celtics win Game 7 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Boston Celtics are heading to the Eastern Conference Finals after defeating the Washington Wizards 115-105 in Game 7.
The game was extremely close through three quarters, but the Celtics rode stellar fourth quarter performances from Kelly Olynyk and Isaiah Thomas for a win. The Wizards, for some odd reason, had no answer for Olynyk all night long.
At several points in the night TD Garden fans were chanting, “Kelly! Kelly!” and they would erupt whenever he hit a basket in the fourth. Olynyk finished the night with 26 points, 14 of those came in the final frame.
Isaiah Thomas previously claimed that “legends are made in Game 7.” He was right, and though he played extremely well, Olynyk stole the show and put on the legendary performance.
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Much like people talk about The Leon Powe game in the 2008 NBA Finals, people will refer to this one as The Kelly Olynyk game. No one could have seen this coming, the Wizards certainly didn’t.
Thomas finished the night with a team-high 29 points, but that’s he status quo for him. Hustle was also on display all night, with big plays from Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Avery Bradley. The Celtics simply wanted this game more. Towards the end, Washington seemed to have given up.
The Celtics closed the third quarter with a 9-0 run, and they extend that to an 18-2 run early in the fourth. Washington did fight back a bit making a 7-0 run of their own. In the end that wasn’t enough as the Celtics and Olynyk turned on the heat.
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Following the win, the Celtics will take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s Boston’s first trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2012 when they lost to LeBron and the Heat.