Breaking News: It’s too early to count the Bruins or hand out confetti to the Celtics

The Celtics demolished defending world champion Toronto Raptors, 112-94, in the Orlando bubble on Sunday afternoon. It was the first game of a best-of-seven conference semi-final and gave a legion of Green People hope that their team could advance to the conference finals and possibly make it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.

The Bruins were spanked by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, on Saturday and dragged their second-round streak three to one games as they prepared for a potential elimination match Monday night in the Toronto bubble. The Bruins have been beaten, 10-2, since the end of Game 2 and it looks like their season is over.

We never learn. We give more and more weight to the last thing we saw. That’s why we have visions of the Celtics in the Finals as we prepare obituaries for a Bruins team that still has four veterans of the 2011 Cup winning team.

We should know better.

It was just a year ago that the Celtics looked indomitable when they beat seeded Bucks, 112-90, in Milwaukee in Race 1 of their best-of-seven series. When the Celtics took an early lead in Game 2, I remember thinking they would wipe out the Bucks. Instead, Milwaukee won four in a row, sending the Celtics home for the summer. Game 5 was a 116-91 defeat.

Old-fashioned Celtic fans can’t forget when reigning world champion Celtics smoked the Lakers, 148-114, at Garden in the first game of the 1985 Finals. We laughed at the LA Fakers, Tragic Johnson and the ancient Kareem Abdul -Jabbar looking like Willie Mays-circa 1973 when the Lakers stumbled in Game 1. Less than two weeks later, the Lakers poured champagne on top of each other at the Old Garden after beating the Celtics in six.

This is a good reality test for those who are reading too much into the Celtics’ flush win over the reputable Raptors Sunday. It was just too easy.

By beating Toronto for the fourth time in five attempts this season, the Celtics took the lead by 31-13 in the first quarter and took the lead at half-time, 59-42. Boston played a great defense and Toronto never lost control. Raptor All-Star Pascal Siakam had trouble with early fouls and only made 5 of the 16 hits. It was a holiday party for Brian Scalabrine.

When Jayson Tatum was reminded of the 2019 flop after winning Game 1 in Milwaukee, he said, “We just won a game. You have to talk about last year? This is a different environment, a different team. Last year. is behind us and this is all different. We know it won’t be easy. ”

Belichick style, Brad Stevens dumped a bucket of water on Zoom-heads which hinted that the Celtics seem to have the number of the Raptors.

“We won a game,” Stevens said. “Our kids couldn’t respect Toronto more. It is difficult to win a game. We will just try to do it again on Tuesday. ”

On the other hand we have the Bruins, who will skate for their live playoffs on Monday night. The Bruins have been dominated since the start of overtime in Game 2. It appears that the abrupt departure of franchise goalkeeper Tuukka Rask during Round 1 will eventually cause the Presidents Trophy-winning Bruins to bounce from the playoffs. Backup Jaroslav Halak seems to have reached the expiration date.

No Bruins team has recovered from a 3-1 playoff series deficit. Twice, the Bruins reported a 3-1 lead, including in 2010 when they reported a 3-0 series advantage in the conference semifinals against the Flyers. Mssrs. Rask, Chara, Bergeron and Krejci remember it all too well.

Brad Marchand, Chara, Bergeron and Krejci are the four cores of the 2020 Bruins. They were all on the ice in Vancouver when the Bruins won the Cup in 2011 and returned to the finals again in 2013 and 2019. They know this could be there last roundup. Don’t expect them to tip over in game 5.

Either way, this is a weird playoff season. Post-season basketball and hockey games are played in August and September instead of May and June. And a lot is lost because there are no fans.

Too bad for the Bruins. They could use a Boston Strong crowd in game 5.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.