Back to the Boston Celtics Newsfeed

Why were the first 4 games of this Celtics-Heat series so noncompetitive?

Mike Breen hasn’t seen it all in his 30 years broadcasting NBA games, but he has seen enough that not much bewilders him.

But when the Celtics roared out to a 57-33 halftime lead in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference finals series with the Heat Monday — the fourth straight game in which a team seized at least a 20-point lead — Breen was as baffled as the rest of us.

“There will probably be a lot of people happy to hear me say this, but I’m at a loss for words,’’ said Breen with more than a hint of incredulity to analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy before the start of the third quarter of ESPN’s broadcast of Game 4.