The Boston Celtics are still on track to do what no team in NBA history has ever done before, but even that isn’t enough to impress former All-Star Gilbert Arenas.
Boston battled for survival, winning twice after losing three straight to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals, now just two away from advancing to the Finals and becoming the first team to ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in league history. After Game 5, the C’s held Miami from ever snagging a lead, slowly building momentum.
Yet, Arenas can’t stand the sight of watching either team, ripping several Celtics members plus both teams during a rant on Underdog Fantasy’s “Gil’s Arena.”
“The only reason that we talking about these two sorry-ass teams playing each other (is) one gotta win, but they both (expletive),” Arenas said. “Did you hear Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown? ‘If we win one,’ like I’m thinking they about to come out and do some damage. I thought hearing them two, like yeah, ‘If we get one, it’s over.’ right? Marcus Smart had zero points the first three quarters. Oh man, I would’ve been ready to cuss them out after the game. … He didn’t do nothing.”
Arenas added: “They’re playing against a YMCA team.”
The Celtics fumbled several opportunities to take control of the series and even punch their ticket to a second straight Finals appearance, leaving the Denver Nuggets sitting tight in the waiting room.
“They’re trash,” Arenas said about the Heat. “… Someone outta this trash gotta make it.”
Claiming that the East is significantly easier than the West, Arenas wasn’t done there. In re-stirring the pot that is Brown’s questionable future, Arenas claimed that Brown’s body language, coupled with reports claiming the Celtics “fake like” each other, indicate that Boston is approaching its end with the JB-JT duo.
Brown is averaging 17.6 points, five rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 41% from the field — a notable drop-off from Brown’s 26.6 points in the regular season.
But Arenas directly attributed Brown to the speculated division of Boston’s locker room, noting that playing alongside Jayson Tatum has fueled his belief in being able to serve as a No.1 option elsewhere.
“It has to be Jaylen Brown because it looks like he looks like he’s disinterested, right?” Arenas explained. “It looks like he’s disinterested. That’s what it actually looks like out there. … It looked like he really wanna get this season over with (in Game 5). It looked like he really wanna get this season over it. You can see it in the body language.”
