Even with the Boston Celtics facing elimination from the NBA Finals, they don't appear to be pushing the panic button. After all, the Celtics have faced a 3-2 series deficit already in this postseason.
But this is totally different beast with the Golden State Warriors holding seemingly all the momentum following a 104-94 victory in Game 5 at Chase Center to push them to the brink of a championship.
With a massive Game 6 looming on Thursday night at TD Garden, Celtics head coach Ime Udoka expressed to his players their first goal should be to not have their season end on their home floor.
"The message to the guys is to be confident going home, get your rest, let's get ready to bring it back here," Udoka said after the Game 5 loss. "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. That's the part where we got to have carryover 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."
If Boston, who hasn't exactly been stellar at home in the playoffs with a 6-5 record, can figure out a way to come out with a win in the next contest, it will be their third straight series that went all seven games.
The consistency issues, not to mention the team's turnover problems, will need to be solved quickly to make that happen, as the Celtics looked like two different teams in the third and fourth quarters of their Game 5 loss.
The Celtics will try to force a decisive Game 7 when they host the Warriors on Thursday. Tipoff for Game 6 is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET.
