
Everything was looking great for the Celtics just the other day. Healthy roster and a 3-1 series lead and the expectation to win Game 5 at home and complete the "gentleman's sweep" of the 76ers. Then the Celtics didn't handle business at home in Game 5 and Philly snagged the momentum with their decisive Game 6 win.
So it comes down to a Game 7 tonight where the Celtics can either make the necessary adjustments needed to advance and have the unnecessarily long first round series end up as just a footnote, similar their 2008 counterparts needing seven games versus the Hawks in their first round on the way to an championship or it will go down as one of the worst choke jobs and upsets in Celtics history. Not a lot of pressure huh?
Reality is the 76ers when they have all their stars able to play which has been rare are a very formidable foe, but the Celtics only have themselves to blame for allowing the series to go seven games. Even if you do everythibg right in a Game 7 you could still have an unlucky shooting night or your opponent could have a lucky one.
Obviously a team's regular season record is a solid indicator of how strong a team you have, but playoff basketball is a different beast. Were all the Celtics player losses for this season due to financial reasons something the team could hide in a regular season when you're playing a lot of teams that aren't really putting their best foot forward to win, but bound to be exposed in the playoffs? That's a possibility.
Also though as much credit as head coach Joe Mazzulla deserves for his win total this season especially considering Jayson Tatum was absent for the majority of it, it will all be for naught if he can't even lead his #2 seeded team with Tatum out of the first round. So the pressure is also on Mazzulla to show that he makes the necessary adjustments to weather this storm and lead Boston into the 2nd round.
Game time is at 7:30 pm tonight.
More must-reads:
+
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!