Team is 7-1 in last eight games when facing elimination

Jayson Tatum put his hands on his face and rubbed his forehead as he took the last question of his postgame press conference. It was the end of a long night after another big win, but the Celtics star also looked like he was trying to come up with the answer to something that so many are wondering.

Why do the Celtics only respond when they need to? Why do they thrive when their backs are against the wall?

“I wish I didn't know the answer,” Tatum said.

Whatever it is, it's ingrained in this Celtics team's DNA. They seem to be obsessed with doing it the hard way, whether it was going down 3-2 to Milwaukee last postseason, then losing at home to Miami in Game 6 that forced them to win Game 7 on the road. The script repeated itself when they fell behind 3-2 to Philadelphia earlier this month.

But now the Celtics are testing it like they're driving high speed around a cliff. After falling behind 3- 0 in these Eastern Conference Finals to the Heat, it looked like the Celtics had gone too far with this. No team, of course, has ever recovered from that deficit. Maybe it will still come back to bite them. But two consecutive wins has reshaped this series and instilled belief again.

It's just what this team does, even if they can't point a finger on why.

“For some odd reason, even last year, we always seemed to make it a little bit tougher on ourselves,” Tatum said. “But what I do know is that you can see the true character of a person, of a team when things aren't going well, and our ability to come together, figure things out when it's not necessarily looking good for us. It's unlike any team I've been on this year and last year, just the core group of guys being able to respond.

“I think that's just a testament to our togetherness, obviously how bad we want it, and we've got a room full of determined, tough guys that push comes to shove, you look to the left and the right of you, believe that the guy next to you is going to do whatever it takes and go down fighting if it don't work out.”

After Thursday's Game 5 win, the Celtics are 7-1 in their last eight games facing elimination, with four of those wins coming on the road. They can add to that tally in Saturday night's Game 6, which would force an improbable Game 7 on Monday in Boston.

How did the Celtics end up in this scenario? Marcus Smart insisted the Heat snuck up on them in this series. That thinking seems a little crazy considering the Celtics knew they had to respond and show fight after dropping the first two games in Boston before they were embarrassed and laughed off the court in Game 3 in Miami.

But perhaps they relaxed too much at that point and took it for granted. That's when the Heat — the one team the Celtics can't afford to let their guard down against — pounced.

“That's the thing about sneaking up on somebody — they're not supposed to know you're coming,” Smart said. “So that's what happened. We didn't know, we didn't see it, and they got us. So it wasn't like we were trying to have that mindset. It's part of the game, it's part of life, it's part of the roller coaster of playing in the NBA at the highest level. You're going to have ups, you're going to have downs, but figuring out when you get down how to get back up, and that's what we've done.”

Maybe their past experiences are teaching them that they can relax, let games slip and still find a way. Maybe one day they'll learn their lesson and show urgency sooner so they don't put themselves in consistently challenging situations.

But this Celtics core — Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Smart and Al Horford — has been through a lot together in the postseason. They certainly didn't hope to be down 0-3 in this series,

Nick White has picked a fine time to get red-hot.

The former North Middlesex Regional and American Legion Post 151 ballplayer has come on at the exact right moment for the University of Maine baseball team, putting together an outstanding pair of games for the top- seeded Black Bears in the America East tournament.

Since returning from a separated shoulder that kept him off the diamond for most of March and all of April, the junior has been producing at a notable rate.

A utility player who transferred to Orono from Northern Essex Community College, White has posted some strong numbers in his first season of Division 1 baseball. He's batting .375 on the season with three home runs and 13 RBI in 21 games. White has also scored 15 runs and played flawlessly in the field, recording 33 putouts without an error.

But as the regular season came to a close and the conference tournament rolled around, White's numbers have begun to rise. He's been a critical cog in the Black Bear offense, which has landed Maine in the America East final after taking the first two contests in tournament.

The Black Bears (31-19, 19-5 AE) will vie for the conference crown Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Binghamton in Vestel, New York, against the winner of Friday's late elimination game between No. 3 Binghamton and second-seeded UMBC. Should Maine fall in that tilt, it would have a second chance to claim the title in a winner-takeall second contest 45 minutes after the completion of the first.