The Boston Celtics are setting all kinds of record in the Eastern Conference semifinals. None of them are good.
Two days after blowing a 20-point lead in a humiliating loss to the New York Knicks, the Celtics, well, they blew a 20-point lead in a humiliating loss to the New York Knicks. It was an echo that defied belief, right up until Jayson Tatum’s last-gasp drive culminated in a Mikal Bridges steal, the same way Game 1 ended.
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So now the Celtics are down 0-2 in a series where they have held a combined 40-point lead in two games. Let’s just say they are quite fortunate their title last year is still there to discourage the pundits from really working them over.
How badly have the Celtics flubbed this series? Enough that the Cleveland Cavaliers might feel sympathy for them.
For starters, they are the first team in the NBA’s play-by-play era to lose two games after leading by at least 20 points in a single postseason. Note how that stat doesn’t feature a “back-to-back” qualifier.
No NBA team has blown two playoff leads like these Celtics, and they did it in consecutive games.
Misery, of course, loves company. For months, a Celtics-Cavaliers Eastern Conference finals has been treated like something resembling an eventuality. They were the clear two best teams in the East.
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And now they’re both down 0-2 against lesser teams, with the Cavaliers currently trailing the Indiana Pacers. The NBA has never seen teams with their level of record down like this in the second round, and they’re there together.
It’s not even like the Celtics had a tendency to blow leads this season. They lost a grand total of one game during the regular season after building a 20-point lead, on their way to a 61-21 season.
And Bridges in particular deserves special recognition. Not only did he seal both wins over the Celtics with steals, he also scored 14 of the Knicks 30 points in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, after entering the frame with zero points.
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That represents a playoff career high for a single quarter.
From a wide perspective, though, the Celtics’ pain is in line with a wider theme of this postseason.
Boston’s loss was the fifth comeback win from at least 20 points down in the 2025 NBA playoffs, which is already a record despite the fact that we’re not even halfway through the second round.
Those losses are:
Incredibly, four of those five games feature either the Pacers (in a good way) or the Celtics (in a bad way).
There actually could have been six of these two, had Aaron Gordon just been a little bit slower with a putback dunk in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
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Despite beginning with some overwhelming favorites to at least reach the conference semifinals, this year’s playoffs has already delivered a historic amount of comebacks and a pair Game 7s. You can only wonder what else it has in store.
The Celtics have a few plays they would like back against the Knicks. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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