Boston restricts access near Garden after first quarter of Celtics game

So you want to join the cheering crowd outside TD Garden if the Celtics win the NBA championship? You better leave early.

Boston police announced they would cut off car and pedestrian access to several nightlife streets in the Garden Area after the first quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. This includes all of Causeway Street and the streets between Causeway and New Chardon Streets.

Even if you are in the neighborhood before the neighborhood ends, the police will not allow you to party in the streets either.

“There will also be no re-entry into establishments in this area at halftime,” police wrote in a press release. job on X.com, formerly Twitter.

The crackdown comes as the Celtics are one game away from winning their 18th NBA championship. A less kind reporter would point out that a victory makes Boston the team with the most league championships, one ahead of its hated rival the Los Angeles Lakers, who have collected only 17 Larry O'Brien trophies.

It's the C's second chance to win this year's championship: The team was poised to sweep the series Friday night, but lost in a blowout, just hours after the Boston Globe published an article speculating on the logistics of a championship parade after the sweep. These two facts are obviously a pure coincidence.