The Celtics could not avoid a sweep, but they did manage to finish the Eastern Conference semifinal series with the New Jersey Nets with their pride intact.

As the Green head off into summer, they will have to try to put their double-overtime Game 4 loss at the FleetCenter Monday night in perspective.

With Antoine Walker and Tony Delk playing their best games of the series and Eric Williams coming off the bench to provide support, Boston came close to forcing a fifth game. Still, even at their very best in terms of effort, the Celtics could not match a team that was deeper, faster and better balanced.