Why 76ers Had Mentalist At Team Dinner Before Game 5 Vs. Celtics

The Philadelphia 76ers will have to make history in order to advance to the Eastern Conference finals, but that doesn’t mean they are taking themselves too seriously.

Philly fell into a 3-0 series hole against the Boston Celtics in its second-round NBA playoff series, but the Sixers won Game 4 and will look to push the series back to Philadelphia by winning Game 5 on Wednesday night at TD Garden.

As no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in NBA history, Sixers coach Brett Brown elected to keep the mood light at the team dinner Tuesday, choosing to have a mentalist entertain his team with card tricks and mind puzzles.

“He does some pretty incredible stuff,” Game 4 hero T.J. McConnell said, per ESPN. “It was just fun. Brett does a good job of that, not having a real businesslike dinner. It was more calm and funny.”

Brown inserted McConnell into the starting lineup in Game 4, getting a career-high 19 points out of the guard to help force Wednesday’s Game 5. As the Sixers try to make history, Brown likes the way his team feels despite being down 3-1.

“We have a game plan that we’re confident in, we have a rotation that we believe in and they have a spirit still to move this thing forward,” Brown said, per ESPN. “We want to go back to Philadelphia (for Game 6).”

The Sixers will stick with McConnell in the starting lineup for Game 5, with the slumping Robert Covington being relegated to a bench role.