What Went Wrong: Another Bad Night in Beantown

You know, it's been a bad few weeks for Boston sports. Let's break it down, shall we?

The Patriots, who just lost Super Bowl LX months ago, are faced with yet another scandal. Their head coach is a philanderer. Sadly, I'm the only one saying it because society is too busy blaming the woman. Unfortunately, that's the sad "golden" rule in society: if a White man cheats, he's the victim. Good grief.

The Red Sox absolutely suck, to the point where they actually fired their longtime manager, Alex Cora. Cam Schlittler really did break this team in last year's postseason, didn't he?

The Bruins lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but honestly, that's the smallest issue in Boston sports. I still say the Bruins weren't expected to make it, but they did, and they didn't make it easy for their opponents. So I think this Bruins season was a positive compared to last year.

And then there's the Celtics. Two years removed from their championship, and they had to play most of this season without their top player, Jayson Tatum. Despite this, they had quite the season in time for Tatum to return during the second half. Finished first in the Atlantic Division, finished second overall in the Eastern Conference behind the Detroit Pistons, and they had a 3-1 series lead over the up-and-down Philadelphia 76ers. But after that, the Sixers won Game Five in Boston. And then, Philly won Game Six at home. I had hope that Philly would win this series, but Game Seven was back in Boston. Part of me figured that Philly would run out of gas in that game.

And then the news broke right before tip-off. Jayson Tatum would be out due to a leg injury. Well, that was all she wrote.

Of course, many will say that if Tatum was healthy for Game Seven, Boston would have won. Here's the thing. Tatum played Games Five and Six, and Boston lost both games. This is another case of the Celtics not being reliable. Look at the 2022 Finals. Won Game One, was up 2-1 in that series, yet they couldn't beat a dying Warriors team. A year later, they were dominated by the Cinderella Miami Heat--yes, they won three after trailing 3-0, but it shouldn't have come to that. They only won in 2024 because they beat a poorly coached and undermanned Mavericks team.

So basically, the Celtics are just like their NHL brothers, the Bruins. They lose to teams they should have easily defeated, yet when they win, it's only because they played teams who don't have much. This season was a bit of a surprise, because the season began with Jayson Tatum sidelind similar to the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton. Similar to Haliburton, it was believed that Tatum would be out all season. Even so, the Celtics persevered, and Tatum came back during the season. Despite this, they won their division, but again, they blew it. A 3-1 series lead fizzled out because the Celtics don't know how to finish. Even crazier, they lost to Joel Embiid, who never won a Game Seven until Saturday, and remember, it was a Game Seven loss to Boston a few years back that prompted Embiid's "I can't do it alone" speech.

So the bad times in Boston continue, and they were long overdue. Remember: all four teams were winning quite a bit for the last near quarter-century, so yeah, this black cloud was a long time coming. What will the Celtics do next year? That's what offseasons are for, and the Celtics are in for one hell of an offseason.