The Boston Celtics gave Mike Gorman the perfect send-off Wednesday night at TD Garden. The Celtics dominated the Miami Heat from start to finish in Game 5 of their first-round playoff matchup, coasting to a 118-84 win that gave them a 4-1 series victory and punched their ticket to the second round. Boston’s rout also meant that Wednesday officially was Gorman’s final Celtics broadcast for NBC Sports Boston; the legendary play-by-play announcer is retiring after 43 illustrious seasons on the mic, and C’s playoff games will be exclusively on national broadcasts going forward. TD Garden sent Gorm ..read more

Boston Celtics great Cedric Maxwell has positive news for the C’s fans worried about Kristaps Porzingis’ calf injury. Ahead of Celtics-Heat Game 5 at TD Garden on Wednesday, Maxwell provided “inside information” on how Porzingis felt on the team bus after Boston’s 102-88 Game 4 win. “He happened to be on the bus with me and he had the boot on,” Maxwell said on NBC Sports Boston’s Arbella Early Edition, as seen in the video above. “I asked him how he was feeling — inside information — and he said, ‘I’m feeling a lot better right now.’ He said, you know, ‘I think I’m gonna be OK.’ And for me, th ..read more

The New England Patriots hope they have their next franchise quarterback in the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Drake Maye. Of course, some QBs are only as good as the situation around them. The Patriots did what they could to support their young signal-caller with the rest of their draft picks. Seven of their eight selections were used on offensive players, including three pass-catchers and two offensive linemen. The two wide receivers they picked, Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, have skill sets that pair well with Maye’s downfield throwing ability. Still, New England’s offense has pl ..read more

The New England Patriots entered the offseason with a lot of work to do at wide receiver. A lack of true difference-makers at the position has been a problem for the Patriots for several years, and it’s among the reasons why the offense was tied for last in scoring last season at 13.8 points per game. The Patriots didn’t do much to upgrade their wide receiver depth chart in free agency. The only notable outside addition was K.J. Osborn, who could be a really useful player for the Patriots but isn’t a true No. 1 at the position. If the Patriots are going to find a true No. 1 from within, it mig ..read more

It’s about that time. With the NFL Draft still not all that far off in our rearview, let’s take an absurdly-early look ahead to the start of September and try to project the shape of the Patriots’ 53-man roster for Week 1.  As you’ll find, the roster churn here is real. After a four-win 2022, the Patriots clearly have gone about trying to overhaul their offense — particularly in the draft, where seven of their eight picks were used to address that side of the ball. And it shows in this initial projection.  More than half of the offensive players you’ll find on this list (14 of 23) ar ..read more

The Boston Celtics need to win one more game to eliminate the Miami Heat from the 2024 NBA playoffs and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Eliminating the Heat is always tough, though, and the Celtics know that better than anyone. The Heat are a well-coached team that plays hard and never quits. But history is firmly on the Celtics’ side as they take a 3-1 series lead into Wednesday night’s Game 5 at TD Garden. Teams that lead a best-of-7 series 3-1 go on to win the series 95.4 percent of the time (269-13 record), per NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics statistician Dick Lipe. The Celtics h ..read more

How long should the Boston Celtics expect to be without Kristaps Porzingis? That question has dominated conversation over the past 36 hours after the Celtics big man suffered a right calf strain in the second quarter of Boston’s Game 4 win over the Miami Heat on Monday. The Celtics announced Porzingis will miss Wednesday’s Game 5 in Boston, and according to head coach Joe Mazzulla, the big man also would miss Games 6 and 7 if the series makes it that far. Mazzulla confirmed Wednesday that Porzingis will be sidelined for at least a week. “I don’t know the specifics of it; they use a lot of fanc ..read more

Reading the Red Sox ERAs from starters on down feels like something out of the 1908 baseball encyclopedia: 1.60, 1.35, 3.04 (you’re cut), 1.96, 1.65, 0.82, 1.86, 0.52, 1.50. But instead of guys named Deacon, Elmer, Addie, Three-Finger, and Dutch, we’re talking about Tanner, Kutter, Cooper, and Greg. Most of all, we’re talking about pitching coach Andrew Bailey. It has now been more than a month, and the Red Sox pitching staff – its starters in particular – remains on an incredible pace. On Tuesday night, while most of you were watching the Bruins find another way to lose a potential clincher i ..read more

Easy for me to say, as a Johny-Tomase-come-lately who parachutes in for the playoffs and asks salient questions like, “Has Parker Wotherspoon really been on the Bruins all year?” but everyone should exhale. History will not repeat itself. The hard-cores undoubtedly slept like crappy babies on Tuesday night after watching the B’s blow another chance to ice a series in overtime. Toronto’s 2-1 victory conjured memories of Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe and last year’s Florida Panthers, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit to render the greatest regular season in NHL history a bloodied footnote. If y ..read more

BOSTON — The list of Bruins players who gave a strong performance in Tuesday night’s Game 5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs is a very short one. In fact, Jeremy Swayman might be the only name on it. The Bruins got off to a really slow start with a horrendous opening period that they were lucky to come out of tied at one goal apiece. They did start to find their footing a bit in the second and third periods, but they struggled to defend and couldn’t capitalize on any of their scoring chances outside of one flukey play that resulted in Trent Frederic’s first-period goal. The Leafs played with a ..read more