On Monday, May 12, the Boston Celtics faced off against the New York Knicks. With the Knicks already leading 2-1 in the series, this was a must-win game for the Celtics. The Celtics started off strong, pulling away and leading by 14 points. They started to lower the intensity going into the second half, and the Knicks were able to come back. In the fourth quarter, the Knicks were starting to pull away. The Celtics looked to their star player, Jayson Tatum, he’d need to really make something happen if they were going to win this game. With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, shooting guard Jaylen Brown loses the ball while driving to the basket, Tatum goes to dive for the ball, and collapses.
Many Annandale students are following the NBA playoffs and were hit hard when they saw a player like Tatum go down.
Freshman Gabriel Pacheco, though a Washington Wizards fan, still was in shock when he saw Tatum go down and not get back up.
“I still really appreciate the great players in the league and it sucks to see such a key player on a team be ruled out, especially during the playoffs.”
The crowd watches in silence as Tatum lies on the floor, holding his right achilles. “I had to hold myself back from chucking the remote at my TV, we were just the NBA champions and now we’re gonna be a second round exit.” said sophomore Esay Ghirmay who is a Boston Celtics fan.
Tatum recently finished surgery on his achilles, and is now starting the long recovery process. Will this be the fall of the Celtics? Have New England sports collapsed? Only time will tell.
The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Indiana Pacers, having made quick work of their opponents, have advanced to the Conference Finals. The Dallas Mavericks were expected to go far in the playoffs, with some early season projections even putting them in the NBA Finals. Dallas had a decent start to the season, at about 26-23, a positive record. On the night of February 1, 2025, disaster struck for mavericks fans. General manager Nico Harrison had traded Dallas’ franchise player and fan favorite, Luka Doncic. “That was the night I ripped down the Dallas Mavericks poster in my bedroom, and ripped it into pieces,” said freshman and diehard Maverick’s fan Jonathan Alzamora.
On May 12, 2025, however, things brightened up for Maverick’s fans. Dallas was awarded with the number one overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery. They plan to select Cooper Flagg, who experts are calling the best NBA prospect since LeBron James. “I can finally wear my Maverick’s shirt in public again,” Alzamora said. Was this a genius move by Nico Harrison, or sheer dumb luck? Either way, Harrison will get a chance to redeem himself after losing the trust of millions of fans.
