Game Seven. Two of the most heart-pumping words in all of sports. Under any circumstances, the Philadelphia 76ers playing a win-or-go-home game with the season on the line would make for an edge-of-your-seat viewing experience. However, tonight has the added element of coming against the rival Boston Celtics, with all of the history that entails. The Sixers haven’t eliminated Boston from the playoffs in my lifetime; 1982 was the last time Philadelphia sent the Celtics home packing. Meanwhile, in the 21st century alone, the Celtics have ended the Sixers’ season five times, including three times during the Process era. A win tonight would exorcise a lot of demons and be talked about for years to come, regardless of what happened in a second round and beyond.

We’ve taken an improbable road to get here. Boston went up 3-1 in this series, with a pair of 32-point victories in Games 1 and 4 that were frankly embarrassing from a Sixers perspective. Everyone was shoveling dirt on the Sixers’ season and wondering what the postmortem fallout would be from a roster and organizational perspective. All we asked was Philadelphia to show a bit of fight, like we saw in the Game 2 win and the close Game 3 defeat. Get dragged off kicking and screaming rather than meekly accepting your tickets to Cabo and filing off quietly.

Instead, something clicked in the second half of Game 5 and the Sixers discovered their identity. They’ve been a connected, disruptive defensive group, playing stout, one-on-one defense against Boston’s ball handlers to reduce the number of open perimeter looks that come as a product of overhelping. The work on the glass has improved, even winning the rebounding battle in Game 5. The offense looks cohesive, with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe still attacking and not excessively deferring to Joel Embiid, and Paul George shifting effortlessly between tertiary floor spacer and guy who can create his own shots in isolation as needed. The previous two wins didn’t seem fluky or a result of shooting variance. Across the last five quarters, the Sixers flat-out looked like the better basketball team.

Of course, things could flip back just as easily. I would expect a team with the championship pedigree of the Celtics to have a better gameplan and effort than what we saw in Game 6. Jayson Tatum tweaked his calf in that loss, but the Celtics once again have a clean injury report heading into the series finale. Joe Mazzulla probably found an adjustment to make watching The Town for the 84th time. Jaylen Brown had time to watch some film and rediscover an offensive move that isn’t stiff-arming defenders in the chest. Boston won 56 games for a reason this season, and that was without Tatum for most of it.

So that’s the stage. Complete the 3-1 series comeback and this Sixers group will be heroes. The Team That Finally Beat Boston, on a level with the 2007 Phillies who came back to catch the Mets to win the division. These last two wins have taken us from Acceptance, back into a place where we dared to dream again. A loss now would be an all-too-familiar brand of heartbreak. We’ll find out whether it’s heroes or heartbreak tonight.

Game Details

When: May 2, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Watch: NBC, Peacock
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers

Future Hall of Famer Chris Paul retired midseason after twenty-one seasons on the hardwood. Paul, considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, spent his last full season with the San Antonio Spurs. The pairing of CP3 with Victor Wembanyama was regarded as great mentorship.

One moment in particular always stuck out to me:

A more overt example of Paul giving Wemby “hands on” experience.

Paul made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show and spoke about his time with San Antonio.

It’s clear from his tone that he embraced his time with the Spurs and has esteen for the franchise.

After returning to Los Angeles, Paul was benched and subsequently traded by the Clippers last February. It came to light that he and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue did not see eye to eye and CP3 aired his grievances publicly. Not the ending befitting a player of his caliber. Especially by the organization to which he gave some of his greatest years.

Paul has since joined the coaching staff at Campbell Hall High School in California, where his son plays. While he has shown little interest in coaching for the NBA, he has mentored many players. He’d be an asset to the Spurs as they navigate the next phases of development.

Who knows, CP3 may still have a window open to pick up an NBA ring.

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

It’s hard to understand how Game 7 became necessary. The Celtics split the first two games of the series, but then went on the road and took both Games 3 and 4 – one close and one comfortably – in front of hostile crowds. They returned home for Game 5 feeling good and expecting to wrap up the series.

But in Game 5, the Celtics went cold from the floor and couldn’t seal the deal. Then they inexplicably let Game 6 get away, too. And suddenly they were facing a Game 7 against a team with two superstars that seemed to have figured out how to win the series.

How could Boston have collapsed? Where was the killer instinct? Where was the clutch shooting? The defense? Weren’t they motivated to win one last title for their coach before he retired?

“Hold on,” you say, “what is that about? Joe Mazzulla isn’t having the best series, but he’s not retiring.”

Correct, but that story wasn’t about the current Celtics. It’s what occurred during the 1966 Finals between Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers. That was during the Bill Russell-Red Auerbach era dynasty, in the year they were going for their eighth straight title. Auerbach had announced he would retire from coaching at the end of the season, and during the Finals he revealed that Russell would succeed him in the role of player-coach.

If you’re accustomed to winning it all every single year, and the coach that led you there had taunted the entire league that they had one more shot at having the last laugh, you would probably be hell-bent on protecting your mentor. And no doubt those Celtics had that attitude. Still, they were taken to Game 7.

The Celtics did win that game, 95-93, against a Lakers team led by all-time greats Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Boston built a 10-point lead with 30 seconds left, but in a flash West cut the lead to six. Only 16 seconds remained, so Auerbach lit up his trademark victory cigar, which he did whenever a game was safely in hand. When play resumed, the Lakers pressed, forced some turnovers, and got within two points with four seconds on the clock. K.C. Jones shook free for the inbounds pass and escaped a trap long enough for the buzzer to sound. The Garden crowd celebrated. Auerbach retired where he’d always been, on top.

Back to today, Celtics Nation and probably the team members themselves are in shock about having to face survival in Game 7. No one imagined this after being up 3-1. There’s plenty of criticism and “how could they let this happen?” takes aimed at them now, and it’s not unwarranted.

But the reality is, if it could happen to a dynasty, it could certainly happen to the 2026 squad.

That’s the thing about the NBA. Anything is, indeed, possible. Just as almost everyone thought this would be a gap year, after 56 wins those same people thought the Celtics were favorites to capture the East. That notion is now in serious jeopardy. (How anyone bets on the NBA is a mystery to some of us; it’s absurdly unpredictable.)

The Celtics many times have been in series that started out 3-1 and wound up 4-3. A major difference: They’ve always been the team chasing the miracle comeback. Now they’re the team trying to hang on. That is admittedly a scary position, but it’s also worth remembering that competition is never over till it’s over.

Looking back, Boston has won some of those Game 7s and lost some.

In 1973, the Celtics fell behind New York 3-1 when captain John Havlicek was injured, and fought back only to lose Game 7 on the Boston Garden parquet (for the first time ever). Then in 2023, as we sadly remember, Miami went up 3-0 before the Celtics valiantly took the next three games (Derrick White at the buzzer!). They couldn’t close it out, however, in part because Jayson Tatum sprained his ankle on the game’s first possession.

Now, a 3-1 lead has again turned into a win-or-go-home showdown, the fourth time this scenario has occurred in the Boston vs. Philly rivalry. The previous three were epic.

1968

The Sixers, led by Wilt Chamberlain, were the defending NBA champs, having broken the Celtics’ eight-year string of rings in 1967. They met again in the Eastern Division Final, equivalent to today’s conference final. Boston won the opener in Philadelphia, but lost the next three, and it didn’t look good with Games 5 and 7 scheduled back in Philly. But Russell’s Celtics recovered to win Game 5 by 18 and Game 6 by six.

In a close, tense Game 7, Chamberlain – who once averaged 50 points per game for an entire season – oddly attempted just two shots in the second half. Russell made a couple of free throws in the final seconds to clinch the game, 100-96. It was the first time an NBA team had overcome a 3-1 deficit. Boston went on to defeat the Lakers for Banner 10.

1981

Boston and Philadelphia were loaded – they finished the regular season tied with 62 wins and just 20 losses. When they met in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics had home court advantage thanks to a tie-breaker. That proved crucial since five games in the series ended up decided by one or two points. The Sixers, led by Julius “Dr. J” Erving, won the opener in Boston, 105-104, on a late jump shot by lethal rookie scorer Andrew Toney. The Celtics responded in Game 2 by double digits. Game 3 went to the Sixers by 10 points, followed by a two-point win for the 3-1 lead.

Back home, the Celtics trailed by six points with under two minutes left in Game 5, but rallied for a two-point win that stunned the Sixers. In an eventful Game 6 on the road, Cedric Maxwell got into a fight with a fan sitting behind one of the baskets (not ejected!), and Kevin McHale blocked a late Toney jumper to preserve a two-point win.

Game 7 in Boston was the most physical battle imaginable. Survival of the fittest for 48 minutes. The Celtics won it, 91-90, on a last-minute bank shot by Larry Bird, one of the moments that helped him become known as Larry Legend. The Celtics went on to the Finals, beating Houston to raise Banner 14.

1982

Boston went 63-19 this season and again had homecourt advantage for the ECF. In Game 1, they obliterated Philly by 40 points. The embarrassed Sixers regrouped and won the next three games, only one of them close. Boston point guard Tiny Archibald injured his shoulder in Game 3 and was ruled out for the series.

The Celtics won a blowout Game 5 at home to keep hope alive. In Game 6 in Philly, they smothered the 76ers offense, winning 88-75, to force Game 7 in Boston yet again. Fans and media mocked Dr. J’s team as “the 75ers” and the consensus was they were headed for another crushing loss. Instead, they went on a mission to atone for the previous year. Toney and the Doctor combined for 63 points, Philly controlled pretty much the entire 48 minutes, and the Celtics were eliminated, 120-106.

That Sixers victory came 44 years ago, and they haven’t beaten the Celtics in a playoff series again. They’ve met six times since in the postseason, and Boston has won them all, including three during the Brown-Tatum era. Surely, today’s Sixers have heard all about that history. This Embiid-Maxey group has all the momentum now and will be motivated to avoid losing a seventh straight series in the rivalry. Beating the Sixers in Game 7 will take everything the Celtics have.

Understandably, many Boston fans are worried. The Celtics appear disjointed and their chances seem bleak. All of this has happened so quickly, going from a secure position to a potential worst-case scenario. Some fans are upset, some are stunned, and probably everyone is feeling the pressure.

Fortunately, the team remains confident. They have their own motivation to keep their streak going, to prove they can turn the series around, and to win and advance. What they’re looking for is to replicate the 1982 result, in reverse. Skeptics will point out these Celtics don’t have a Russell or a Bird; believers will counter that the Sixers don’t have Wilt or Dr. J.

The bottom line is that Celtics Nation still has hope. Buckle up for Saturday night and stay ready, because anything actually is possible.

Heartbreak only happens when you put yourself in a position to make it possible.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had their souls crushed by an RJ Barrett three that bounced off the rim multiple times before falling through to give the Toronto Raptors a 112-110 victory and force a Game 7.

The Cavs shouldn’t have been in that position. They didn’t bring the effort and focus they needed to close out a playoff series.

The defensive process was bad for the first three quarters.

Toronto lacks players who can create advantages for themselves off the dribble, particularly with the absence of Immanuel Quickley and Brandon Ingram.

Still, Cleveland’s defenders couldn’t stay in front of their assignment. And even if they did, one of the other four Cavaliers would find themselves stuck in no-man’s land, where they weren’t committed enough to cut off a drive, weren’t in the gaps to shut down passing lanes, and also weren’t close enough to their assignment to prevent an outside shot.

The Cavs didn’t lose this game in the fourth; they lost it in the first three quarters when plays like this were commonplace. The Raptors connected on 11-27 (40.7%) from beyond the arc through the first three quarters, leading to 91 points overall.

Then, the defense flipped.

Cleveland locked in with the focus they should’ve had from the opening tip. They limited the Raptors to just 12 points in the fourth quarter on 4-17 (23.5%) shooting, which included going 1-7 (14.3%) from three.

It’s easy to look at the offensive outcome and judge how the defense played from there. However, limited scoring doesn’t mean there was good defense and vice versa. In this instance, the Cavs’ defense was actually good.

The help defense successfully cut off drives to the basket, as Toronto attempted just two shots in the restricted area and six in the paint overall. For context, they had an average of 9.3 shots in the paint per quarter before the fourth.

Cleveland did this while being able to rotate back to shooters to either contest outside shots or actually prevent looks from going up entirely.

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The frustrating part isn’t that the Cavs aren’t capable of playing good defense. That would be understandable. It’s that they can’t focus enough mentally or show the willingness needed to actually do so, until it’s nearly too late.

If they supplied anywhere close to this level of effort for an extended stretch at the start of the game, they win this one going away.

Donovan Mitchell deserves the most blame for the loss.

The entire offense, and this era of Cavs’ basketball in general, is built entirely around him. They can’t afford for him to play below his standards for four straight games and expect to easily close out a series.

Once again, Mitchell couldn’t establish anything going toward the basket. Through the first three quarters, Mitchell attempted just six of his 13 shots in the paint and had no free-throw attempts. That can’t happen for someone whose game is built mostly on his explosiveness to the rim.

As with the defense, the frustrating part wasn’t that Mitchell was incapable of getting to the basket. In the fourth quarter and overtime, he attempted seven of his 12 shots in the paint, posting 13 points in that span to put the Cavs in a position to win the game.

Going to the basket is draining, especially against a team that is doing everything within its power to make it difficult to do so. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to try and get there in the first three quarters.

Mitchell’s teams have consistently underperformed in the playoffs, but he’s mostly escaped criticism. Being a high-volume scorer who puts up numbers has allowed him to do so. When you score 35+ points, it’s easy to point to other reasons why the team didn’t get it done.

These playoffs have been a referendum on that notion.

Mitchell’s scoring has completely dried up. Over the last four games of this series, he’s averaged 19.5 points on 37.3% shooting from the floor and 29.4% shooting from three while taking just 1.5 free-throw attempts per game.

The lack of scoring underscores the other parts of Mitchell’s game that aren’t up to snuff. The defense has been horrendous, he’s averaging more turnovers than assists in the last four games, and he doesn’t make an impact as a rebounder. This all adds up to the Cavs getting beaten in the minutes he’s played.

In the last four games of this series, the Cavs have been outscored in Mitchell’s time on the court by a combined 35 points. That comes out to an average of losing his minutes by 8.8 points per game, which included Cleveland being outscored by four in Game 6.

Losing Mitchell’s minutes wasn’t a common occurrence in the regular season. The Cavs outscored their opponents with him on the floor in 49 of the 70 games he played. And when they didn’t, they usually lost, with a record of 5-16 in those situations.

This was the fourth-straight game the Cavs have been outplayed with Mitchell on the floor. Unsurprisingly, that has led to them losing three of those games.

The warts that have held Mitchell back in the postseason have always been there. They were just masked by his incredible scoring.

If you think of the best playoff performers of all-time, they’re all incredibly versatile two-way players who can beat you in a variety of ways on both sides of the ball. That isn’t Mitchell. And until it is, teams that are built around him will continue to fall into the same issues year after year.

This wasn’t James Harden’s best game. He dribbled the air out of the ball a few too many times down the stretch, couldn’t get a couple of clean looks to go late, and had too many careless turnovers. This led to an inefficient 5-14 showing with four giveaways.

Even so, this loss wasn’t on Harden.

Harden has earned his reputation as a playoff underperformer. This game won’t do him any favors in that department. However, his more well-rounded skillset is why the Cavs played their most impressive basketball with him on the court.

There’s more to Harden’s game than just scoring. He set up his teammates well (even though the spacing remains horrid) and should’ve had much more than nine assists. In addition to that, he did an excellent job affecting the game as a rebounder.

Guard rebounding is incredibly important when the margins are this tight. Harden came down with nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end. He led the team in offensive boards, which is the one area the Cavs thoroughly dominated. Cleveland outscored Toronto 22-10 on second-chance points. Harden was a big part of that.

Single-game plus/minus can be misleading, but it sometimes does paint an accurate picture. The Cavs won Harden’s minutes by a game-best 11 points due to the numerous ways he positively influenced the game despite being a poor defender.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson made numerous bad decisions.

Sticking with Max Strus as a starter just hasn’t worked. There are several Cavaliers who’ve gotten lost helping off-ball, few more than Strus. This is part of the reason why the defense has typically struggled with him on the floor.

The starting unit with Dean Wade remains their best lineup. Atkinson went to it late to get back into the game, but maybe things wouldn’t have gotten out of hand if that unit had been given the time they deserved.

Then, there’s the fact that the Cavs wasted their challenge in the first half on a borderline foul that didn’t go their way on review. Having that challenge late would’ve helped as numerous questionable calls didn’t go the Cavs way and influenced the outcome of the game.

Finally, Atkinson’s play calls out of timeouts were bad in overtime. His decision to run their second-to-last possession to Schroder in the backcourt when he knew Toronto was going to foul was a head-scratcher with Mitchell and Harden on your team.

In addition to that, having Evan Mobley, who’s been a bad free-throw shooter for several months on the floor in that situation, also didn’t make sense. He shouldn’t have been in a position to lose the ball late.

And lastly, the final play call didn’t make sense. Using Harden, your second-best offensive player, as the inbounder is questionable. I understand that you want an on-target pass, but you’re taking a prime shooter and decoy off the court. If you want to ensure you get the ball in, you can always use a timeout and have Harden inbound the second attempt.

More importantly, the final play call made no sense. I’m not sure what the desired outcome was, but there was no chance that Mitchell could break free from this designed mess. Settling for an off-balance Mobley three probably wasn’t the ideal outcome there.

Evan Mobley played one of the best games of his career, considering the moment.

The Cavs aren’t in a position to steal this if it weren’t for his efforts on both ends. Mobley continually beat up mismatches inside, took it to the basket when he had an opening to do so, and scored Cleveland’s last nine points of regulation to send the game to overtime. This included hitting a triple with under two minutes left and converting a game-tying finger roll in the final seconds of the fourth.

Cleveland has looked their best this series when Mobley has been involved offensively. Toronto doesn’t have someone who can easily combat his size and quickness. Scottie Barnes is probably the best bet in doing so, but they need him to cover one of the guards. This leaves Mobley free to attack in the post and in space as a cutter.

Mobley’s game doesn’t neatly fit into a number one or two role on a high-level offense. The handle isn’t tight enough for him to be entirely a self-creator. That said, he has constantly found ways to elevate his game in the playoffs after a rough postseason debut against the New York Knicks three years ago.

Still, the building blocks are there for him to grow into more. And even if he doesn’t, he’s proven to be a matchup problem in the playoffs. That’s an incredibly important skill to have in the postseason.

This heartbreak was only possible because the Cavs showed some fight. If they rolled over quietly, like it seemed like they would do midway through the third quarter, this loss might not sting as much.

This game wasn’t lost when Barrett hit the improbable three. The Cavs instead choked it away well before that. They didn’t come out with the energy they needed for a close-out game. Trying to steal it by finally exerting effort in the final 10 minutes like it was the second night of a back-to-back in January wasn’t, and never will be enough, to eliminate a playoff opponent.

So on one hand, the Cavs don’t deserve any credit for fighting back since that was the bare minimum that they could do.

At the same time, if you wanted to take the glass-half-full approach, you’re perfectly capable of doing so. The resilience the Cavs displayed late wasn’t something we’ve seen often in this era. They showed that they could be a high-level defensive team, and if a few more open shots fell down the stretch, the conversation would be entirely different.

We’ll find out which perspective is the right one on Sunday when this era of Cavs basketball is on the line.

Marcus Smart’s block. LeBron James’ dominant second quarter. Deandre Ayton’s relentless rebounding.

The individual performances in the Lakers’ ugly, but decisive 98-78 series-clinching win over the Houston Rockets on Friday were almost too numerous for coach JJ Redick to focus on each one.

That collective spirit is also what makes him so confident heading into the Lakers' first Western Conference semifinal appearance since 2023.

“For us to be written off a few weeks ago and to win a playoff series is a big deal,” Redick said after the Lakers polished off their first-round playoff series in six games. “And it just speaks to the character of our team and the leaders of our team. They didn't let go of the rope.”

Read more:LeBron James leads Lakers' rout of Rockets to close out series

After winning a series in which they were underdogs for every game they won, the Lakers return to the scene of their lowest moment to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals beginning Tuesday.

The last time they were in Oklahoma City, the Lakers lost by 43 points. Their two best players sustained regular-season ending injuries, with news of Luka Doncic’s hamstring injury and Austin Reaves’ oblique strain coming on consecutive days after the loss. Still dazed from the emotional hangover, the Lakers lost their next two games.

“There was a lot of question marks,” Reaves said. “And just the way that we responded as a group, I think it just tells you a lot about the people that we have in our room. There's no quit.”

The Lakers finished the regular season with three consecutive wins. They leapt out to a 3-0 series lead against Houston before letting doubt creep in again. After the Lakers squandered two chances to end the series, including a disappointing home loss Wednesday when Reaves returned from injury, critics wondered if the Lakers would really be the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 playoff lead.

James wouldn’t allow it.

The superstar forward dominated with 28 points on 10-of-25 shooting, seven rebounds and eight assists. He outscored the Rockets by himself in the second quarter 14-13 as the Lakers went on a 27-3 run to open a 19-point lead.

“We understand that he's the guy that brings energy, but also we have to help him,” forward Rui Hachimura said, “especially you know, he's old now.”

Hachimura tried to suppress a smile.

The Japanese forward did his part with 21 points, including five three-pointers. Smart leapt for a jaw-dropping block against 6-foot-8 Tari Eason and drew three charges. Ayton had 16 rebounds, helping the Lakers outrebound the best rebounding team of a generation 54-45.

Ayton, often maligned for his inconsistent effort, has been a force in the postseason, averaging 11.8 points and 10.8 rebounds while often guarding Rockets All-Star Alperen Sengun one-on-one.

“He's been saying it all year: 'Wait till I get to the playoffs,'" Smart said of Ayton. “It's a different side of him that fans haven't seen, that we expect, that we know he can give. He knows it and he's ready.”

In his second game back from injury, Reaves had 15 points on seven-of-14 shooting with three blocks. He missed all four of his three-point attempts, still searching for his shooting rhythm after a long layoff. But the way Reaves attacked his treatment and returned before the typical four- to six-week timeline was his own form of leadership, Redick said.

Reaves sometimes left his house at 7:30 a.m. and didn’t return until more than 12 hours later. He drove all over L.A. looking for different treatment options. He did everything short of following Doncic to Europe, Reaves joked.

Doncic’s status is still unknown for the beginning of the conference semifinals. He has yet to progress to live play on the court, although he recently started incorporating movement into his on-court drills instead of just stationary shooting. He is still out indefinitely.

Without the star point guard, the Lakers could confidently turn to James to steer them through choppy waters. He averaged 22.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8.3 assists in the first-round series. At one point during Friday’s game, Reaves approached him to just tell him his performance was “insane.”

“I don't think you can say in words how special he was,” Reaves said, “not just tonight but this series, this year."

In the locker room after the game when the Lakers prepared to break their last huddle, the lights suddenly clicked off. Players started bleating, serenading James with sounds deserving of the G.O.A.T. — greatest of all time.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Whew. Sigh. LeBron!

History eluded. Embarrassment avoided. Belief restored.

The most secure legacy played with the most desperation. The most creaky veteran played with the most aggression. The winningest superstar played like he had everything to lose.

Wow. Gasp. LeBron!

So it went at Houston’s Toyota Center on Friday night when the Lakers, just two losses from becoming the first team in NBA history to blow a three-games-to-none lead, blew away the Rockets 98-78 to win their first-round series four games to two.

It was a night that prevented possibly the greatest meltdown in NBA history. It was a night that celebrated possibly the greatest player in NBA history.

Read more:LeBron James leads Lakers' rout of Rockets to close out series

“Started with LeBron,” said Marcus Smart. “The OG came out.”

When the shorthanded Lakers needed him most, their ageless 41-year wonder indeed showed up huge, LeBron James fighting down the lane, throwing in from deep, finding teammates like the sizzling Rui Hachimura and the surging Austin Reaves, leading with his entire massive being.

James wasn’t going to be on the wrong side of history. He wasn’t going to further stain his sterling 42-13 close-out record. He wasn’t going to let his final season end so early.

Wait a minute, this is not his final season? Not a chance. Bury any lingering doubt. After watching him dominate the youngest starting five in these playoffs Friday, it is impossible to imagine he’s going to call it quits.

He scored a game-high 28 points while enduring a team-high 37 minutes. He had eight assists, seven rebounds and only three turnovers. He even played defense, as the Lakers were a game-best plus-26 when he was on the court.

His night ended with him appropriately surrounded in the locker room by teammates who were bleating like goats. Because he’s the, well, you know.

“It speaks to his greatness,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick, and, yeah, somebody must be great if they can induce grown men to imitate farm animals. “To me he’s had the greatest career of any NBA player … for him to do it again and answer the bell again, it’s … baffling in some ways.”

From the frying pan to the fire, the Lakers now travel to Oklahoma City to face the defending champion Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals beginning Tuesday.

This could get real ugly, real quick.

The Lakers won’t have injured leading scorer Luka Doncic for the foreseeable future. They will be playing a Thunder team that drubbed them in the regular season, including a 43-point stomping just last month.

The Lakers don’t stand a chance. They’ll be lucky to avoid a sweep. They should quit while they’re ahead.

Which is exactly what everyone said about them before this Rockets series, before they took advantage of a Kevin Durant injury and Reaves' return from injury, before they revealed a sense of focus and connection completely unexpected from this disjointed group.

Before James decided he wouldn’t let them lose.

“We had some obstacles obviously and I know they were without guys as well, but I thought we answered the call,” said James. “I thought we answered the challenge and for them to allow me to lead them, that means a lot to me.”

Truly, lost in all the criticism over the last two Lakers losses was the truth the Lakers never should have been in this position in the first place.

Consider this near miss one of James’ greatest postseason achievements. Consider this first career playoff series win a huge endorsement for Redick as a Lakers coach. Consider any positivity that comes from the Oklahoma City series as pure gravy.

“For us to be written off a few weeks ago and to win a playoff series is a big deal,” said Redick. “And it speaks to the character of our team and the leaders of our team that they didn’t let go of the rope."

James led the Lakers to a five-point lead in the first quarter, then absolutely dominated with a 14-point second quarter in which he outscored the entire Rockets team and gave the Lakers an 18-point halftime lead that was never challenged.

See if you can follow along …

James hits a fallaway. Jake LaRavia races down for a layup. Smart draws a charge. James hits a three. James hits a spinning layup. LaRavia connects on a fastbreak jam. James sinks another layup.

For those breathlessly keeping score, the Lakers began that second quarter with a 9-0 run that, dating back to the first quarter, was an incredible 21-2 smackdown. At one point the Rockets missed a dozen straight shots. At another point they were 0-for-15 shooting in the quarter.

The Rockets momentarily stopped the bleeding with six consecutive points late in the quarter, but on James’ last-minute trey, the Lakers finished the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 49-31 halftime lead.

”He just has this ability to set the tone for the entire group,” said Redick. “He did that again tonight and the guys responded.”

James scored on a jump shot just seconds into the third quarter and the route continued. Houston, which only made six baskets in the quarter, mounted a bit of a surge late in the quarter, but Smart ended any momentum by drawing his third charge of the night.

“I love charges,” said Smart. “They’re demoralizing.”

Redick angrily called a timeout with 6:28 remaining in the game after a defensive lapse with the Lakers leading by 19. James fittingly scored on a layup immediately after the timeout and the game was formally finished.

The Lakers defense was astounding, holding the Rockets to 13 points below their season low. The Lakers rebounding was astonishing, nearly doubling the offensive rebounds of the NBA’s best offensive rebounding team.

The Lakers offensive collective was also cool, Hachimura hitting five of seven treys, Reaves scoring 15 points with three blocked shots, and Deandre Ayton finishing a fine series with 16 rebounds.

But this was about the OG, who noted that he is finally comfortable celebrating small victories and said, “I think we should be proud of the way we handled this.”

The way he handled this.

Bleat … bleat … bleat.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Boston Celtics are collapsing in on themselves, now having dropped back-to-back games against the Philadelphia 76ers. What was supposed to be a quick series for Boston has now turned into a slog, with Philly bouncing back from a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7.

It’s do-or-die time. No more second chances. The Celtics had several opportunities to close out this series, but now their backs are against the wall, and momentum is not in their favor.

Boston held a 13-point lead in the third quarter of Game 5, a potential close-out game. It’s been all downhill from there, though. The Sixers turned Boston’s 13-point lead into as much as a 17-point deficit, ultimately stealing the game by 16. So, what changed? Why was Philly able to snatch control of the series?

Well, as my CelticsBlog colleagues have pointed out, from a tactical perspective, Boston is no longer playing Celtics basketball. The root cause of the issue becomes clearer when we look at how Boston’s bench closed out Game 6, but the problem isn’t with the bench.

In Game 6, Joe Mazzulla pulled the starters at the 10:24 mark of the fourth quarter when Boston was facing a 23-point deficit. Many saw this as a waving of the white flag, but I wasn’t so sure.

A lineup of Payton Pritchard, Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., Jordan Walsh, and Luka Garza took the floor. Outside of Payton, no one in that lineup had a consistent role this season. They were thrown in to the fire at what almost felt like random stretches of a game, and they all had success in those stretches. They all gave every stint – every possession – their all. That’s what led to Boston’s 56-win season, obviously alongside the winning plays of the starters.

I had no reason to expect that it would be any different when they took the floor together in the 4^th quarter of Game 6. And what do you know? They faced off against Philly’s starters, and shaved off as many as 11 points from the deficit in just over 3 minutes, making it an 88-76 lead for the Sixers with 7:10 left on the clock.

Ultimately, Boston’s bench wasn’t able to take it any further, a 106-93 final score, but we were able to see exactly what the Celtics were missing that put them in the 23-point hole in the first place. Effort. Connectivity. Determination.

The “Stay Ready” group earned their name for a reason. They don’t know when they’ll take the floor, but they know exactly what they’re going to give to the game when they do – everything. It’s what the starters have been missing in these past two games.

Now, let me be perfectly clear. I am not questioning the starters’ heart, skill, desire, or anything of the sort. Celtics fans are blessed to have a team of such high-character players, and that too, players whose only goal is to win. I’m not going to let one disappointing series make me start doubting that.

But the starters don’t seem to be playing with the same sense of urgency as the bench is. They have experience, no doubt, but it’s felt like they’ve been going through the motions. Jaylen Brown said he thinks that Boston is “playing into [Philly’s] hands a little.” Too much isolation and matchup hunting, lapses on defense, miscommunications – it’s all amplified under the spotlight when the shots aren’t falling.

When the bench came in, it felt like there was finally some flow again. There wasn’t any overdribbling, the ball moved from side to side, everyone was making the extra pass, and the Celtics were getting some very high-quality shots. Not all of them dropped, which happens, but you also can’t expect the bench to be perfect. If the starters played the same way, you’d imagine they’d at least find the same success, if not more.

When asked about why they were inserted into the game, Mazzulla had this to say: “Wanted to give the game a different feel. I mean, all year we’ve had 14-15 guys be able to impact winning. Just wanted to give the game a different look.”

Along with the improvements on offense, it also felt like there was more of a defensive presence. The Celtics were attacking loose balls, forcing turnovers, and crashing the boards. It was honestly a much-needed break for me as a fan of the game, finally seeing some more fight after a gut-wrenching first three quarters. It was the only thing that could take the sour taste of the rest of the game out of my mouth.

The thing is, we know the starters are capable of this too. This same group won a championship together just two seasons ago. We need that version of them in Game 7. Boston can’t afford to get off to a slow start. They have to come out swinging from the jump. They have to feed the TD Garden crowd, and put Philly on their heels.

I’ll take this moment to personally call out Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, and even Nikola Vucevic (because they’re all obviously reading this); I don’t care if the shots don’t go down if you follow the right process. If we go out, let’s go out fighting. I believe in you. Play the Celtics basketball we all know and love, and send Philly packing.