The Boston Celtics hit a wall in their first three games vs. the Miami Heat.
Coach Joe Mazzulla looked way over his head, the players seemed exhausted, and it felt like they had given up.
Then, a big win at South Beach shifted all momentum back in their favor, and they felt like they could make history right now.
When asked about their huge win in Game 5, Mazzulla cited that the NBA season is a long grind, so they found it in themselves to fight back and stay alive for another week.
Joe Mazzulla: "The season is nine months long and we just had a bad week… we're sticking together and fighting like hell to keep it alive" pic.twitter.com/JzBNALSuBW
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) May 26, 2023
The Celtics have done an outstanding job of making adjustments.
Mazzulla and the players have made it seem possible, and they shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.
Oddsmakers had them as the favorites in the Eastern Conference, even when the Milwaukee Bucks were still in contention, and they have the talent and depth at every position to beat any team on Earth on any given night, Miami included.
The Heat barely made the playoffs and rode that momentum, Jimmy Butler’s incredible scoring run, and Erik Spoelstra’s tactical mastermind, but that can only last so long.
And while Spoelstra and the Heat have rarely been the kind of team that could lose four games in a row, the Celtics have been borderline perfect on the defensive end of the floor and Jayson Tatum keeps rising to the occasion.
They need to keep pushing, and they might become the first team in NBA history to come back from that infamous 0-3 hole.
NEXT: Jayson Tatum Comments On Celtics Game 5 Win Over Heat