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The Boston Celtics have reached their third straight Eastern Conference finals, where an increase in degree of difficulty almost certainly awaits.
The owners of the NBA's best record in the regular season put away the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 113-98 win on Wednesday, ending their series in five games. They will advance to face either the New York Knicks or the Indiana Pacers for a trip to the NBA Finals.
It's a familiar sight in the East, where the Celtics have reached the conference finals six times in eight years. Of course, they're still waiting for their first title in that span.
Celtics beat a short-handed but scrappy Cavaliers team
The Cavaliers entered Wednesday in a dire situation, with All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, All-Star center Jarrett Allen and veteran Caris LeVert all ruled out for Game 5. It wasn't the first time the Celtics faced a short-handed opponent in this playoffs, as they also beat the Miami Heat sans Jimmy Butler in the first round.
Obviously, the Celtics can't be faulted for defeating teams with injuries. And the Celtics are short-handed themselves with Kristaps Porzingis still sidelined with a calf strain. The trend just can't be forgotten while sizing up the Celtics' chances in the next round.
The remaining Cleveland players did an admirable job of staying competitive in hostile territory, keeping the lead in the low single digits until early in the fourth quarter. It wasn't an easy game for Boston, which finally pulled things together with a 13-2 lead to push the game out of reach.
Jayson Tatum had another great game with 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, but the biggest difference might have lied in Al Horford, starting in Porzingis' absence. The oldest player on the floor had 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 15 rebounds and five assists in 35 minutes.
That stat line means Horford joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to post at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a playoff game at 37 years old or older, per The Athletic's Jared Weiss.
In Mitchell's absence, the Cavaliers leaned on the young Evan Mobley, who posted 31 points on 14-of-23 shooting with seven rebounds and four assists. Marcus Morris, acquired basically for free at midseason, was also huge, posting 25 points off the bench on 10-of-13 shooting.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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