Celtics
The Warriors have a chance to win their fourth title in eight years on Thursday.
Jayson Tatum will look to save the Celtics’ season in Game 6. v
Once again, the Celtics will play in an elimination game — and Thursday’s is the biggest yet.
The Celtics host the Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. As it trails 3-2 in the series, Boston must win two straight in order to win the title. With a loss Thursday, the team will watch Golden State celebrate winning an NBA title on its home floor.
The Warriors won the last two games of the series after going down 2-1, giving them two chances to win their fourth title in eight years.
No matter what happens on Thursday night, Game 6 will be the final game in Boston this season. The only question is whether there will be a Game 7 in San Francisco on Sunday.
We’ll cover everything that happens from pregame all the way until the final buzzer in Thursday’s Game 6 here.
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Pregame news and notes
8:20 p.m.: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is in COVID protocols and will miss a second straight game. The NBA commissioner typically conducts the award ceremony for the winning team of the Finals. If the Warriors win tonight, Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum will hand the Warriors the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
8:10 p.m.: Zach Zarba, David Guthrie, and John Goble are the officials for tonight’s game. There were rumors that Scott Foster, who is nicknamed “The Extender” by NBA fans, would officiate Game 6, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Foster did officiate Game 3, which means he could be an official for Game 7, if there is one.
8pm: It looks like some old Celtics who won the team’s last title will be in the TD Garden crowd to support the younger Celtics tonight.
7:50pm: Now here is a fun fact. Over their 22 NBA Finals appearances, the Celtics haven’t lost three straight games, per the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds.
7:40 p.m.: With the US Open in town, we’re sure to get some cross-sport references tonight. Some can be funny, like this one fan at Thursday’s opening round.
7:30 pm: Self-proclaimed “fashionable” guy Jayson Tatum ditched wearing clothes to honor sports icons for his Game 6 fit. He’s wearing a leopard jacket tonight.
7:15 p.m.: Robert Williams is available and will start in Game 6. The Celtics’ center revealed to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes on Wednesday that he’s had to get his knee drained on multiple occasions during the playoffs.
On Thursday, The Athletic’s Shams Charania said on the “Pat McAfee Show” that Williams is “close to 100 percent healthy and I would expect him to play big minutes tonight.”
6:30 pm:
- The trends from both teams this postseason favor the Celtics. Boston is already 3-0 in elimination games in their run to the Finals, beating Milwaukee twice and Miami once when facing elimination. Golden State, on the other hand, is 0-3 in road closeout games, losing to Denver, Memphis, and Dallas.
- The Celtics are 3.5-point favorites at most sportsbooks for Game 6. The home team has been favored for every game so far in the Finals.
- Boston lost two games for the first time since March when it lost Games 4 and 5. However, the Celtics didn’t have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in one of those March losses. The last time the Celtics lost two games with their star duo prior to Games 4 and 5 was in January. The last time they lost three games in a row came in December, when the team was dealing with COVID-related absences.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism