It was an overwhelming victory for some reason. The Boston Celtics, the team with the highest winning percentage in the NBA regular season, also showed off their overwhelming performance in the first round of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

In the first round of the 2023-2024 NBA Eastern Conference Playoff (PO) semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on the 8th, Boston succeeded in gaining the upper hand by winning a huge 120-95 and 25 points.

Boston easily defeated the Miami Heat, the eighth seed, by winning four games to one in the first round of PO. The second round will take place at the same venue on Saturday.

Boston was expected to have an advantage in terms of physical strength as Cleveland fought the Orlando Magic to Game 7 in the first round of the PO, and it actually did. Boston had a tight race until the middle of the first quarter, but never gave up the lead after Jason Tatum's 3-pointer with four minutes left in the quarter, which was tied at 25-25. Boston, which led 59-49 in the first half, increased its momentum at the start of the third quarter with Derek White and Zrew Halladay collaborating on four 3-pointers, and continued the flow in the fourth quarter, before Peyton Pritchard's 3-pointer with about six minutes left in the game ran to 110-87, sealing the wedge.

For Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and 6 rebounds, and Derek White scored 25 points including 7 3-pointers, which was the biggest contributor to the victory. Tatum also backed up with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and a double-double performance. Cleveland struggled hard with Donovan Mitchell scoring 33 points, the most among both teams.

BY: 안전놀이터