Celtics look like they don’t have any magic left in the tank
Their backstory is quite familiar, and has already been trotted out on quite a few occasions.
We all know the Celtics have overcome quite a bit to get to this point in the NBA Finals.
They fought back against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, taking the final two games after going down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinal series in order to advance.
They won a Game 7 in Miami against the Heat after dropping a possible clinching Game 6 at home in the conference finals to once again forge ahead.
And before they even reached the playoffs, the Celtics completely turned their season around after a miserable, mostly unwatchable start.
So they're no strangers to being able to dig deep, and change the narrative. They've shown incredible resilience throughout the season and playoffs. They've been able to muster up whatever it takes to collectively get over whatever hurdle lies in front of them.
It's been their calling card.
But now, they're back in do-or-die land against the Golden State Warriors, after dropping Game 5 Monday night, 104-94, to fall behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Do they have another magical burst in them starting with Game 6 in Boston Thursday night? Can they climb one more mountain and come out on top on the other side?
It's certainly not impossible, but watching them lose back-to-back games for the first time in the playoffs, and seeing how they lost, another miracle just doesn't seem likely.
Based on their uneven performance in the latest pivotal game, their inability to shed bad habits, and their lack of urgency at different points, this might be one obstacle
they can't overcome, especially against a Warriors team that's consistently played better in the important moments of the series.
The biggest problem is it's hard to tell which Celtics team is going to show up one quarter to the next, much less one game to the next.
Their inconsistency has been maddening. They just haven't been able to turn that faucet off.
In this series in particular, the self-inflicted wounds and careless play have been deadly.
As once again in Game 5, they were turnover machines. They added 18 more in Game 5, with 13 coming from Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart combined, as the Celtics just continue to be the gift that keeps giving.
Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that they're 0-7 in games where they turn the ball over 16 or more times.
But that wasn't the only area that bit them in the rear.
They missed 10 free throws. That's right, 10!
It was suggested fatigue might be a factor with Tatum and Brown both worn down by playing a ton of minutes, not to mention carrying the weight of expectations.
Let's just say if they want to be champions, none of that should come into play.
Fatigue or not, they can't continue to have the offense sputter and resort back to hero ball for stretches, while also driving into traffic and losing the ball over and over.
They can't disappear in the first and fourth quarters, which happened Monday night. They need to show they want it more every quarter, not just in spurts.
This is the NBA Finals. And they're running out of chances to right the ship with the Warriors now one win away.
"Definitely now, our backs are against the wall, and we have to see what we're made of," said Al Horford. "The challenge starts back home on Thursday."
Or, as Brown said, it's "win or go home."
They're actually a little late to that party. Having a win or go home mentality was the type of urgency they needed to play with in Game 5, only they sleep-walked through the first quarter and then again in the fourth.
How does that happen? Or rather, keep happening at different points? How do you miss a dozen straight threes to start out, then make the next eight?
"For us, it's really about consistency. That's the thing we're not having throughout a full game, is consistent efforts, sustained effort, more so offensively than anything," said Celtics head coach Ime Udoka. "That's the part where we got to have carry over not only game to game but quarter to quarter, where we saw it happened in the third but not the fourth.
"Obviously, we are all frustrated with tonight a little bit, but even prior, quarters and games. Our message is to take it one at a time. We've been here before, did it against Milwaukee. Let's bring it back out to the Bay."
For his part, Tatum, who still hasn't been able to take over a game in the Finals, still has faith the Celtics will get the job done. They just have to look at the mission as one game at a time.
“You know, I've said it before: You better be confident, right? We ain't got to win two in one day. We just got to win one game on Thursday,” said the Celtics star, who had a team-high 27 points.
“We've been in this situation before. So it's not over. Got to win on Thursday. That's all we got to worry about right now.”
The Celtics don't want to let the opportunity to win a championship fall by the wayside. Who knows when, or if, they'll be back.
So once again, it'll be interesting to see if they can avoid stepping on all the land mines and deliver.
“We worked incredibly hard all season to put ourselves in this position. I still feel like we have so much more better basketball to play that we haven't played in the last two games,” said Brown, who went a miserable 5-for-18 from the floor and 0-for-5 from distance. “I'm hoping that the next two games we play Celtic basketball and put our best foot forward like I know we can.
"I know the city is going to be behind us. It's going to be a big Game 6. Looking forward to it.”
“You know, I’ve said it before: You better be confident, right? We ain’t got to win two in one day. We just got to win one game on Thursday.”
CELTICS FORWARD JAYSON TATUM